President Spencer W. Kimball:God has endowed us with talents and time, with latent abilities and with opportunities to use and develop them in his service. He therefore expects much of us, his privileged children (The Miracle of Forgiveness p. 100)

President Spencer W. Kimball:“Members of the Church should be peers or superiors to any others in natural ability, extended training, plus the Holy Spirit which should bring them light and truth. With hundreds of "men of God" and their associates so blessed, we have the base for an increasingly efficient and worthy corps of talent. First Presidency Message: The Gospel Vision of the Arts (Adapted from "Education for Eternity," an address to the Brigham Young University faculty and staff, in Speeches of the Year, 1967-68, pp. 12-19.)

President Brigham Young: The Lord gives a little to his humble followers today, and if they improve upon it, tomorrow he will give them a little more, and the next day a little more. He does not add to that which they do not improve upon (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1941], 90).

President John Taylor: We ought to foster education and intelligence of every kind; cultivate literary tastes, and men of literary and scientific talent should improve that talent; and all should magnify the gifts which God has given unto them. Š If there is anything good and praiseworthy in morals, religion, science, or anything calculated to exalt and ennoble man, we are after it. But with all our getting, we want to get understanding, and that understanding which flows from God (The Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham [1943], 277)