This principle is one of the enduring themes of the Book of Mormon, a kind of governing leitmotif of truth and wisdom. Alma reminded his wayward son Corianton of this very thing, saying “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). From his position atop the walls of Zarahemla, Samuel the Lamanite warned the people: “ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head” (Helaman 13:38). Mormon, familiar with these words, discerns the condition of his people to be a direct result of their ignoring the same plain truth: that happiness cannot derive from sin. Therefore, the people are in the last stages of extinction—a fateful consequence of their own willful actions contrary to the doctrine of Christ.