William H. Bennett

First Quorum of the Seventy (October 1, 1976 – December 31, 1978)
First Council of the Seventy (April 6, 1970 – October 1, 1976)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1976 General Conference
  • Our Goal Is Perfection
    • “The pursuit of excellence should be major work of our lives. Many people, however, give little attention to it. Perhaps they feel that it is not possible for anyone to reach perfection in this life, and so they let the immediate pressures dominate their actions. While it is true that we cannot attain perfection in a total sense in this life, it is also true that we can attain perfection in many specific areas of activity. Furthermore, if we fail to do what we can and should do in this life, we may deprive ourselves forever of the opportunity to do those things later on and thus lose great eternal blessings.”
• October 1975 General Conference
  • Covenants and Blessings
    • “The priesthood is worth more to us than any other possession. We who are priesthood bearers have a two-fold mission: first to preach the gospel, and second to administer its saving ordinances. Our mission is to bring happiness to ourselves, our families, and to mankind through application of gospel principles in daily living. Our great aim is to obtain eternal life.”
    • “Let me conclude, my brothers and sisters, that we must never be careless about the sacred and eternal nature of the covenants that we enter into in the temples. Unfortunately, some individuals have not been fully truthful when they were interviewed for their temple recommends. And unfortunately also, some priesthood leaders have not been as thorough and as careful as they should have been in conducting these interviews, and some people have gone to the temples unworthily. In so doing, they have placed their eternal future in jeopardy.”
    • “We have our free agency; but none of us have the free agency to determine the consequences of the choices that we make, because we will be held accountable and responsible for our acts.”
• April 1975 General Conference
  • A Time to Prepare
    • “It has been said that when the time to perform arrives, the time to prepare has passed. Now, while that is true in many situations, it is not universally the case. Those of you who have taken part in athletic competition, particularly in track-and-field events, know that while an individual goes to great pains and puts in many hours of hard work trying to build a strong base from which he might be able to perform at his best, preparation actually continues during the competition and right during the performance time. So we need to keep that in mind, too. This is not just a once-over deal; it is something that can be added upon from time to time.”
• April 1974 General Conference
  • Inertia
    • “The key to a successful and happy life is to strive diligently always to make the most of the present—to make the most of each moment as it arrives. If we can just practice the self-discipline necessary to do this, our past can become glorious to behold and our future will be assured.”
• October 1973 General Conference
  • “Which Way to Shore?”
    • “We say to the honest in heart everywhere: Listen to our message; give it prayerful, careful consideration, and then seek a witness from on high through the power of the Holy Ghost that our message is true. There is just too much at stake to do otherwise. We make some strong claims in our Church; we do not apologize for that. We have that responsibility. We have the truth. We are proclaiming the truth. Give it careful, prayerful consideration.”
• April 1972 General Conference
  • Be A Missionary—Always—Everywhere You Go!
    • “It has been my privilege to tour a number of the full-time missions. I have also witnessed firsthand the work of many stake missions. As I have done so, I have become keenly aware of two great needs that should receive attention if we are to raise performance in missionary work both at home and abroad.”
    • “May we all feel more dedicated to this great, unselfish service of love that we refer to as missionary work, and may we be willing in our hearts to make a greater contribution to its forward progress.”
• April 1971 General Conference
  • Help Needed in the Shaded Areas
    • “Is there not similarity between the color-blind condition just described and the condition of a member of the Church who claims that he is seeking the truth, is anxious to develop a strong testimony pertaining to the truth, and yet is not willing or able to humble himself before the Lord, to exercise faith, and to live the gospel? By failing to do these things, he is letting his sins of omission close the door to the great source of all truth—our Father in heaven. As a result, his vision is faulty.”
    • “Some people seem to be more inclined to disbelieve the scriptures and the teachings of our present-day prophets than they are to believe them. I have said in my heart that if they would put forth the same effort to believe that they do to disbelieve, and would humble themselves, exercise faith, and study diligently, the Holy Ghost would help them, and they would find that they believe many of the things they now think they disbelieve.”
• October 1970 General Conference
  • Gratitude for Testimony
    • “In the days of my youth the Lord saw fit to bless me with an inferiority complex. I say “blessed” because in wrestling with this problem I learned the meaning of humility. I learned what it meant to get close to my Father in heaven through prayer on an almost continuous basis. I learned that in problems we find our challenges. In those challenges lie opportunities. If we can just identify those opportunities and capitalize on them, growth, progress, and success will result. I learned that strength comes from facing up to problems squarely and realistically, not from disregarding them or avoiding them.”
    • “I should like to say that the great battles of the world are not fought on the battlefields. They are fought in the hearts and in the minds of men and women everywhere, as they wrestle with their problems, try to meet the difficulties and issues that confront them, exercise their free agency, and make choices. The forces of evil and the forces of righteousness are both trying to influence the decisions, and there is conflict in the hearts and minds of men everywhere. If the forces of righteousness triumph universally, there will be love, harmony, and peace on earth. If the forces of evil dominate, there will be outward expressions that lead to war and destruction.”
    • “The gospel teaches us to build rather than to destroy, to help people to give of themselves in unselfish service to others rather than being on the receiving end of things most of the time.”

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