Quotes from Approaching Zion

Hugh Nibley ·  631 pages

Rating: (884 votes)


“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, quote from Approaching Zion


“Competitiveness always rests on the assumption of a life-and-death struggle.”
― Hugh Nibley, quote from Approaching Zion


“Nobody loves the rat race, but nobody can think of anything else—Satan has us just where he wants us.”
― Hugh Nibley, quote from Approaching Zion


“Who can be 'agents unto themselves' if they are in bondage to others and have to accept their terms?”
― Hugh Nibley, quote from Approaching Zion


“Can the mere convenience that makes money such a useful device continue indefinitely to outweigh the horrendous and growing burden of evil that it imposes on the human race and ultimately brings its dependents to ruin?”
― Hugh Nibley, quote from Approaching Zion



“The genius of stable societies is that they achieve stability without stagnation, repetition without monotony, conformity with originality, obedience with liberty.”
― Hugh Nibley, quote from Approaching Zion


“Self-justification, that was the danger-- the exhilerating exercise of explaining why my ways are God's ways after all.”
― Hugh Nibley, quote from Approaching Zion


About the author

Hugh Nibley
Born place: in Portland, Oregon, The United States
Born date March 27, 1910
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“On one hand she seems so agile, so athletic, and yet I've seen her appear so awkward that it embarrassed me. She gives the impression of a hard, worldly adroitness, and in some situations she's like an adolescent: rigid with ancient, middle class attitudes, unable to think for herself, falling back on old verities...victim of her family teaching, shocked by what shocks people, wanting what people usually want. She wants a home, a husband, and her idea of a husband is a man who earns a certain amount of money, helps around the garden, does the dishes...the idea of a good husband that's found in This Week magazine; a viewpoint from the most ordinary stratum, that great ubiquitous world of family life, transmitted from generation to generation. Despite her wild language.”
― Philip K. Dick, quote from Confessions of a Crap Artist


“It is as great an error to speak well of a worthless man as to speak ill of a good man.”
― Leonardo da Vinci, quote from Leonardo's Notebooks


“Needs? I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people... I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked, "Must I really have this?" I guess most of the extras are chalked up to comfort or saving time.

Funny thing about comfort - one man's comfort is another man's misery. Most people do't work hard enough physically anymore, and comfort is not easy to find. It is surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain.”
― quote from One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey


“Why,' I said, quite surprised by my own eloquence in inventing all this stuff, 'it happens every day. The old old story. Boys and girls fall in love, that is, they are driven mad and go blind and deaf and see each other not as human animals with comic noses and bandy legs and voices like frogs, but as angels so full of shining goodness that like hollow turnips with candles put into them, they seem miracles of beauty. And the next minute the candles shoot out sparks and burn their eyes. And they seem to each other like devils, full of spite and cruelty. And they will drive each other mad unless they have grown some imagination. Even enough to laugh.”
― Joyce Cary, quote from The Horse's Mouth


“I noticed you made a bee-line for their bookcases." It is the oldest and most incorrigible trait of the book-lover.”
― Paul Collins, quote from Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books


Interesting books

Once a Runner
(10.5K)
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
(2.7K)
Confessions of a Tri...
by Jody Gehrman
Maldoror and the Complete Works
(2.8K)
Maldoror and the Com...
by Comte de Lautréamont
Fireflies in December
(3.9K)
Fireflies in Decembe...
by Jennifer Erin Valent
Safely Home
(8.3K)
Safely Home
by Randy Alcorn
Too Much Temptation
(6.1K)
Too Much Temptation
by Lori Foster

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.