In the Doctrine and Covenants we read these words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Seek ye knowledge out of the best books, words of wisdom" (see  D&C 88:118 Today I should like to read to you some of the words of wisdom which I have found in good books. Some of these words are from the Bible, some are from the writings of Abbott Lawrence Lowell, late president of Harvard University, and from other sources. All these sources and many more good books are easily available to all of us. I am very much interested in them and wish to pay attention to the Prophet's words.

Our pioneer fathers read the best books. Sometime I shall tell you what books they brought to this valley with them. The founding fathers read most of the best books of their time and in many languages. They were educated and wise men.

What is "wisdom"? President Lowell says, "We think of wisdom as a part of religion. In its highest strains it involves wisdom as an attribute and emanation of God, such that, if a man take her as a companion and guide, he shall find righteousness and happiness. Such wisdom demands serenity of temper, a judicial attitude of mind, a habit of seeking what good reasons and motives, rather than what bad ones, others may have for differing from us.

It demands not only a negative, but a positive intellectual integrity, a desire to understand that which contradicts, as well as that which supports, one's own views of what is just and wise. This means an open, earnest mind, a mind based upon wide and deep insight into ultimate realities."

Men are not born with wisdom, they acquire it by habitual self-control, by looking not at the popular impulse of the day, not by conforming, not by mass participation, but at those principles that endure and are eternal.

The following words, which I now quote, will be particularly helpful to our missionaries: There are thousands of men in the world who live on a high moral plane and are not thought self-righteous. If we have any insight into the deeper springs of human nature, we will meet them constantly in the journey of life. If we have not the insight, we will not see them, for they do not make a show of virtue. But they have upheld it in others by their example, and make the world better by their presence.

What does Paul mean when he says (Corinthians), ". . . they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise"  2 Cor. 10:12 He further says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ"  1 Cor. 3:11 Let us integrate this wisdom into our lives.

Let us be wise in training our children, and remind ourselves often that all young people need heroes to emulate. There is no life of the mind or aspiration of the spirit without emulation of great heroes. Let us remind them too, that opportunity is often made or seized upon by men, rather than thrust upon them. The lives of two of the most eminent American historians—Prescott and Parkman beautifully teach this great lesson. Our children must feel at times that they are in the company of a great human spirit.

May I pause here to say some words on juvenile delinquency. William Ellery Channing, the great historian, writer, and teacher said, "No state of mind, not even positive suffering, is more painful than the want of interesting objects." In other words, boredom causes crime. If we had wisdom enough in the community one cannot doubt that crimes, which all good men reprobate, would be less prominent . . . we should be so wise as to discover the causes and remove them.

To leaders and workers I say ponder on these words in Genesis, "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

"And he said, Let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me"  Gen. 32:24,26

We read—wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom is better than weapons of war.

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.

We read in our newspaper the other morning these words of Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell. They are, I believe, wise words. "Civil rights is not solely a legal problem. Basically it is a moral problem." It will always be a problem in America, as long as children hear parents and neighbors utter derogatory remarks about other races, creeds, and religions. Our hiring practices in labor in the future, he says, will have to be based on ability and qualifications for the job, without regard to age or sex or race or creed or national origin.

Let us not be satisfied with a mediocre standard of our life's work. Destiny does not bless a man unless he has endurance to wrestle until the breaking of the day.

Our Father in heaven, help us to get wisdom and use it in our lives, we humbly pray. Amen.