D&C 49:20; 52:40; 56:14-16; 104:15-18; Mosiah 4:17-19; Alma 4:6-12; 35:9; 3 Ne. 27:27-32; 4 Ne.1:24-26; Prov. 16:18; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; Rev. 3:15-21; Luke 12:15-21; Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Berrett, pp. 150-154; Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 305-318; refer in this text to 2 Ne. 9:28-30; Alma 1:6; 3 Ne. 6:10-16
“Pride is the great stumbling block of Zion… . Pride is ugly; it says if you succeed I am a failure… . Pride is basically competitive in nature, when competition ends, pride ends.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, Apr. 1989)
“The two groups who seem to have the greatest problem with pride are the learned and the rich.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, Apr. 1986, p. 6)
“There will come a time, however, in the history of the Saints when they will be tried with peace, prosperity, popularity and riches.” (Daniel H. Wells, Journal of Discourses 19:367)
“Continuing with the words of Paul, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil’ (1 Tim. 6:10). It is the love of money and the love of those things which money can buy which destroys us. We all need money to supply our needs. But it is the love of it which hurts us, which warps our values, which leads us away from spiritual things and fosters selfishness and greed.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, May 1997, p. 49)
“Today we are basking in the lap of luxury, in the like of which we have never seen in the history of the world. It would seem that probably this is the most severe test of any we have ever had in the history of the Church.” (Harold B. Lee, Address to Church Employees, Dec. 13, 1973)
“The worst fear I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear … is that they cannot stand wealth.” (Brigham Young, Life of a Pioneer, James S. Brown, pp. 122-123)
“I have been in homes of rich people. I have never seen any tears of joy shed because of anything they could purchase with their money, but I have been in groups of missionaries and groups of Saints, when for hours at a time there was not a dry eye there; just because the spirit of God was there.” (LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, Apr. 1952, pp. 113-114)
“Plato says the honest man is a man who will do right even with the ‘ring of Gyges.’ Gyges was one of the tyrants, and he had a ring that made you invisible. Now, if you had the ring of Gyges, you could do anything you wanted to because you would be invisible. [Plato warned] That [the ring] shouldn’t change your behavior at all. You should do the right thing because it is the right thing—not because it will make you money, bring you financial success, or in the long run dollars and cents.” (Hugh Nibley, Semester 3 Transcript, F.A.R.M.S.)
“I remember reading the results some time ago of a national survey which attempted to summarize the responses as to what brings happiness… . Most people felt money was a significant part of happiness. The author’s research, however, indicated that money alone seldom, if ever, resulted in true happiness… . It’s important to have sufficient money for our needs, but beyond that, money has little to do with true happiness.” (W. Eugene Hansen, Ensign, Nov. 1993, p. 81)