Socrates
“Talk in order that I may see you.”
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Shakespeare
“Mend your speech a little, lest it may mar your fortunes.”
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2 Peter 2:7
“Vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked”
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Spencer W. Kimball
"Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly"
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Edwin Hubbel Chapin
“Profaneness is a brutal vice. He who indulges in it is no gentleman.”
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Ted E. Brewerton
“We should never lower our dignity by lowering our language.”
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Psalms 34:13
“Keep thy tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.”
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Boyd K. Packer
"However common irreverence and profanity become, they are nonetheless wrong"
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Matthew 5:34
“But I saw unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne.”
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Bob Hope
"With today's movies, if we took out all the bad language, we'd go back to silent films."
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Antoine R. Ivins
"If you fail to gain absolute self-control, you have failed in the greatest victory of life."
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William Cowper
“It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme.”
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Dallin H. Oaks
“The nature and extent of profanity and vulgarity in our society is a measure of its deterioration.”
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Ezra Taft Benson
“One of the cardinal sins in our country is profanity --- the taking of the name of the Lord in vain.”
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Matthew 12:37
“For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
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Matthew 15:11
“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth.”
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Antoine R. Ivins
"If you fail to gain absolute self-control, you have failed in the greatest victory of life."
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Jeremiah 23:10
“For because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.”
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Exodus 20:7
“Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
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Jeremy Taylor
“Nothing is greater, or more fearful sacrilege than to prostitute the great name of God to the petulancy of an idle tongue.”
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Ephesians 4: 29
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
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James 5:12
“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath…”
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Colossians 3:8
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.”
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Bob Greene
“Obscenity, the open use of which used to be a mark of lower social strata, has somehow become acceptable in everyday conversation for everyday people.
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Ted E. Brewerton
“Which of the Lord’s Ten Commandments is probably broken the most frequently? I believe it would be taking the name of God in vain.”
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1 Timothy 4:12
“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
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James 3:10
“Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”
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Spencer W. Kimball
Language is like music; we rejoice in beauty, range, and quality in both, and we are demeaned by the repetition of a few sour notes.
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Leviticus 19:12
“And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.”
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Proverbs 29:34
“Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not”
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Charles Didier
“Words are a form of personal expression. They differentiate us as well as fingerprints do. They reflect what kind of person we are…”
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2 Timothy 2:16
"But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker..."
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John S. Choldston
“Unfortunately, it seems that the more “civilized” we become, the more inundated by filthy language and profanity we are.”
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George Washington
"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it."
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Matthew 12:36
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”
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Gordon B. Hinckley
“Conversations I have had with school principals and students lead me to the same conclusion—that…there is an evil and growing habit of profanity and the use of foul and filthy language.”
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Joseph Fielding Smith
“Profanity is filthiness. A person is known as much by his language as he is by the company he keeps…Filthiness in any form is degrading and soul-destroying and should be avoided.”
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Gordon B. Hinckley
“What I fear from these reports is that the prevalent use of foul language has become an acceptable pattern in the schools, probably due in large part to the influence of TV and the general permissiveness in our society.”
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Leviticus 24:16
“And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.”
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Hodding Carter
“If it was once rare to hear sailors’ language in mixed company, it is now difficult to avoid it. For whatever reason, the enduring contribution to America left by the 1960s has been the debasement of public discourse and behavior.”
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George Q. Cannon
“Do angels take the Lord’s name in vain? The idea is so ridiculous that we scarcely like to ask the question. … How dare we do that which angels dare not do? Is it possible for us to argue that that which is forbidden in heaven is praiseworthy on earth?”
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David O. McKay
“No parent can consistently teach faith in Christ who profanes the name of Deity. Profanity is never heard in the well-ordered home. Swearing is a vice that bespeaks a low standard of breeding. Blasphemous exclamations drive out all spirit of reverence.”
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John S. Tanner
“Modern speech, so frequently debased by profanity and obscenity, says much about the character of our society. Our language environment has been blighted by obscenity and profanity just as real and pernicious as the pollution that fouls our land, water, and air.”
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Gordon B. Hinckley
"Stay out of the gutter in your conversation. Foul talk defiles the man who speaks it... Don't swear. Don't profane. Avoid so-called dirty jokes. Stay away from conversation that is sprinkled with foul and filthy words. You will be happier if you do so, and your example will give strength to others."
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Hodding Carter
“And so we are assaulted on all sides by the ethos of the slob, with few having the courage or desire to confront it head on…I rarely challenge the foul mouth who embarrasses my mother in a public place…I, like most of you, simply wince and turn away.”
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Ezra Taft Benson
“The stage, the screen, the novel, casual conversation, the street discussion, and too often the fireside intimacies are punctuated with blasphemy, to which may be added, as of the same nature, coarse, ribald jokes, foul stories, and low small talk. Some would have us believe that profanity is a sign of masculinity and emotion maturity.
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Ezra Taft Benson
“One of the cardinal sins in our country is profanity --- the taking of the name of the Lord in vain. Reverence for the name of Deity is enjoined in holy writ. Jesus made this clear when teaching His disciples to pray. He said, addressing the Father, "Hallowed be thy name: (see Matthew 6:9). Blaspheming the name of God separates man from his Creator.”
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Bob Greene
“Bathroom and sexual obscenities can now be heard in certain popular songs on the radio, and even some magazines and newspapers have begun to print language that would have been unthinkable five years ago. This practice is usually defended under the name of ‘freedom.’ But whose freedom is it? If the language of ugliness becomes so much a part of our society that it is impossible to escape no matter where one turns, then who is free and who isn’t?”
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George Washington
“The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in our American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of heaven on our arms if we insult it by our impropriety and folly.”
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Spencer W. Kimball
“We note the increasing coarseness of language and understand how Lot must have felt when he was, according to Peter, "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." (2 Peter2:7.) We wonder why those of coarse and profane conversation, even if they refuse obedience to God's will, are so stunted mentally that they let their capacity to communicate grow more and more narrow. Language is like music; we rejoice in beauty, range, and quality in both, and we are demeaned by the repetition of a few sour notes.”
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