Core Beliefs Quotes

I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it's like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.

True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel.

Most Americans do not think of liberty and freedom as a set of texts, or a sequence of controversies or a system of abstractions. They understand these ideas in another way, as inherited values that they have learned early in life and deeply believe.

I want to live out principles that became a part of my life in my 40s, 50s, and 60s. One principle is the universality of freedom.

I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.

We can all learn from every text. Reading the work that disgusts you can only strengthen your core beliefs. I could teach a semester-long course based only on reading the local telephone book. All stories can be taught in valuable ways.

Our political differences, now matter how sharply they are debated, are really quite narrow in comparison to the remarkably durable national consensus on our founding convictions.

If you don't have a set of principles that you can explain for what you are doing, then how can anybody know what you're going to do next?

I do believe in standing for something more than just a product.

I cannot sacrifice or compromise my principles.

What we do flows from who we are.

Religion is not an end in itself. One's union with God is the ultimate goal. There are so many religions because immature people tend to emphasize trivial differences instead of important likenesses. Differences between faiths lie in creeds and rituals rather than in religious principles.

You are the way you are because that is what you believe about yourself.

It's not what a man does, it's what a man is that counts!

I do think it's perfectly natural and human to want to invest belief in something. It's just a facet of who we are. What do I believe in? I believe in the obvious things. The people I'm close to and my work - it's not complicated.

Arguments hardly affect the faithful- their beliefs have an entirely different foundation.

I want my inner truth to be the plumb line for the choices I make about my life - about the work that I do and how I do it, about the relationships I enter into and how I conduct them.

One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.

I am a Conservative: I'm never going to be anything else.

The world begins with what we believe.

I believe in faith, family and country. I really keep it that simple.

I acted on my core beliefs on social issues as governor.

Principles are like seeds; they are little things which do much good, if the mind that receives them has the right attitudes.

A candidate who tries to steer a path down the middle in an effort to 'win independents' runs the risk of convincing everyone that they have no core values. As much as - or more than - any other voters, independents want to see conviction and authenticity.

A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.