Literature-1-27h-Quote-Standing Alone-President Hinckley
Standing Alone (President Hinckley)
“You may feel alone. A lot of times you are alone. But that is part of
what life is.” (Pres. Boyd K. Packer, “The Instrument of your Mind and
the Foundation of your Character” CES Fireside for Young Adults,
address given at BYU February 2, 2003)
“There is great loneliness in leadership. This is so because we have to
live with ourselves even if it means abandoning other relationships
and pursuits. We have to live with our own consciences. We have to
live up to our inner feelings. We have to stand for the values and
beliefs that we have embraced, adopted, and woven into our
characters.
“It was ever thus. The price of leadership is loneliness. The price of
adherence to conscience is loneliness. The price of adherence to
principle is loneliness. I think it is inescapable. The Savior of the world
was a man who walked in loneliness. I do not know of any
statement more underlined with the pathos of His loneliness than this
one: ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but
the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head’ (Matthew 8:20).
“There is no lonelier picture in history than that of the Savior upon the
cross, alone, the Redeemer of mankind, the Savior of the world, the
son of God suffering for the sins of us all. . . .
“In leadership, in standing for principle, there is loneliness. But men
and women of integrity must live with their convictions. Unless they
do so, they are miserable–dreadfully miserable. And though there
may be thorns, though there may be disappointment, though there
may be trouble and travail, heartache and heartbreak, and
desperate loneliness, there will also be comfort and strength and
that ‘peace of God, which passeth all understanding’ (Philippians
4:7).”
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something, Random House, 2000,
pp 168-69)
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