Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by William Clayton

Quote by William Clayton

“[August 15, 1844. Thursday.]...I replied to her [Emma] that there were many things which I was unwilling the world should know anything about and should not lend my hand to ruin the church. She then grew more angry and said I had neglected her and the business, and there was nothing that had President Smith's name to that should not be investigated. She said she had no secrets nor anything she was unwilling the whole world should know. I told her that there was some things which would be unwilling the public should know. She denied it. I said I knew things that she did not want the world to know. She said if I harbor'd any idea that she had ever done wrong it was false. I answered "what I have seen with my eyes and heard with my ears I could believe." She said, if I said she had ever committed a crime I was a liar and I knew it. I replied Sister Emma I know I don't lie and you know better what I know I know and although I never have told it to any soul on earth nor never intend to yet it is still the truth and I shall not deny it.”

Quote by William Clayton

Book:An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton
Create image

Work

An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

William Clayton

Browse famous quotes and profile details for William Clayton. more

You May Also Like

“As important and revolutionary as these things were, it was Joseph Smith's teachings on marriage that had a more visible and far-reaching effect on William Clayton's life than anything else he learned in Nauvoo. Two doctrines, “eternal marriage" and "plural marriage," went hand-in-hand, and Clayton learned of them during the last two years of his association with the prophet. Why would the straitlaced, idealistic William Clayton, who was almost overly concerned with what people thought of him, seriously consider the practice of plural marriage when it so clearly violated all his earlier values as well as the morality and sensibilities of the society in which he lived? He had a good marriage with Ruth Moon, which had endured considerable adversity. He was also close to her family. By the time the doctrine of polygamy was presented to him Ruth had borne three children and on February 17, 1843, just two months before his second marriage, she presented him with his first son. It was no lack of love or compatibility that led him to take additional wives. The most compelling factor was his single-minded conviction that whatever Joseph Smith told him to do was right and that he must spare no pains to accomplish it. At the same time, it is clear that his affection for Sarah Crooks of Manchester was still there, and once he was convinced that the principle was true, it was only natural that he should think of her as a possible second wife.”

PolygamyJoseph SmithMormonWilliam Clayton
Book:Trials of Discipleship: The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon Pioneer
Create image

“A mentality to gain name and fame under the cover of service is not a service. Mentality to give pleasure to needy of service and the GOD is the true service. In the spiritual field only the beneficiary of our service has the right to propagate our service activities and such right is not available to service provider. The true service provider can explain his/her activities officially only with the evidence of photograph, newspaper cutting, etc. Intention to mere exhibiting his/her service through the "Push" technology make him guilty of spiritual misconduct. Our true service is in itself a good propagation of our Organisation, our Gurudev.”

True Service
Author:Ananda Shailendra Dev
Create image