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Indolent and unworthy the beggar may be—but that is not your concern: It is better, said Joseph Smith, to feed ten impostors than to run the risk of turning away one honest petition.

Hugh Nibley

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Hugh Nibley
Age: 94 †
Born: 1910
Born: March 27
Died: 2005
Died: February 24
Author
Historian
Portland
Oregon
Hugh Winder Nibley
Running
Smith
Away
Unworthy
May
Feed
Impostors
Better
Turning
Indolent
Ten
Petition
Concern
Petitions
Risk
Joseph
Honest
Beggar

More quotes by Hugh Nibley

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Work is, after all, not a busy running back and forth in established grooves, though that is the essence of our modern business and academic life, but the supreme energy and disciplined curiosity required to cut new grooves.
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Nobody loves the rat race, but nobody can think of anything else—Satan has us just where he wants us.
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What on earth have a man's name, degree, academic position, and of all things, opinions, to do with whether a thing is true?
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No matter where we begin, if we pursue knowledge diligently and honestly, our quest will inevitably lead us from the things of the earth to the things of heaven.
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The very helplessness of the public which makes it necessary for them to consult the experts also makes it impossible for them to judge how expert they are.
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As knowledge increases, the verdict of yesterday must be reversed today, and in the long run the most positive authority is the least to be trusted.
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In this crucible of wickedness the true greatness of Mormon shines like a star.
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If you pray for an angel to visit you, you know what he'll do if he comes. He'll just quote the scriptures to you - so you know you're wasting your time waiting for what we already have. I'm quite serious about that.
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The gas-law of learning: . . . any amount of information no matter how small will fill any intellectual void no matter how large.
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It is throwing our life away, to think of the wrong things.
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Knowledge can be heady stuff, but it easily leads to an excess of zeal! -- to illusions of grandeur and a desire to impress others and achieve eminence . . . Our search for knowledge should be ceaseless, which means that it is open-ended, never resting on laurels, degrees, or past achievements.
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Careerism is the determination to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven.
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Every way of life produces its own environment and in turn is influenced by that environment.
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Wherever we look in the ancient world the past has been controlled, but nowhere more rigorously than in the history of the Christian church. The methods of control, wherever we find them, fall under three general heads which might be described as (a) the invention, (b) the destruction, and (c) the alteration of documents.
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At UCLA I quickly learned the knack of getting grades, a craven surrender to custom, since grades had little to do with learning.
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Only if you reach the boundary will the boundary recede before you. And if you don't, if you confine your efforts, the boundary will shrink to accommodate itself to your efforts. And you can only expand your capacities by working to the very limit.
Hugh Nibley
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The unique value of Christianity lies in those things which would never in a million years occur to men if left to themselves.
Hugh Nibley
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You can only expand your capacities by working to the very limit
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Being self-taught is no disgrace but being self-certified is another matter.
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And the issue is never the merits of the evidence but always the jealous rivalry of the contestants to see which would be the official light unto the world. Right down to the present day we have been the spectators of a foolish contest between equally vain and bigoted rivals.
Hugh Nibley