- “The voice that bears profound testimony, utters fervent prayer, and sings the hymns of Zion can be the same voice that berates and criticizes, embarrasses and demeans, inflicts pain and destroys the spirit of oneself and of others in the process. “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing,” James grieves. “These things ought not so to be.”” Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 613-16
- “I speak against verbal and emotional abuse of anyone against anyone, but especially of husbands against wives. These things ought not to be. Yet the sin of verbal abuse knows no gender. Wives, what of the unbridled tongue in your mouth, of the power for good or ill in your words? How is it that such a lovely voice, which by divine nature is so angelic, so close to the veil, so instinctively gentle and inherently kind, could ever in turn be so shrill, so biting, so acrid and untamed? A woman’s words can be more piercing than any dagger ever forged, and they can drive the people she loves to retreat beyond a barrier more distant than anyone would ever have imagined when such a verbal exchange was beginning. There is no place in that magnificent spirit of yours for acerbic or abrasive expression of any kind, including gossip or backbiting or catty remarks.” Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 624-30
- Ecclesiasticus 28:17…The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones
- “The voice that bears profound testimony, utters fervent prayer, and sings the hymns of Zion can be the same voice that berates and criticizes, embarrasses and demeans, inflicts pain and destroys the spirit of oneself and of others in the process. “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing,” James grieves. “These things ought not so to be.”” Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 613-16
- “There is a terrible ailment of pessimism in the land. It’s almost endemic. We’re constantly fed a steady and sour diet of character assassination, faultfinding, evil speaking of one another. I come with a plea that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I’m suggesting that we accentuate the positive. I’m asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort.” Manual, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, Chapter 3, Cultivating an Attitude of happiness and a Spirit of Optimism