"We feel the need to emphasize with greater clarity the obligation for members of the Church to become more independent and self-reliant, to increase personal and family responsibility, to cultivate spiritual growth, and to be more fully involved in Christian service" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 584-85).

"The Lord's way consists of helping people help themselves. The poor are exalted because they work for the temporary assistance they receive, they are taught correct principles, and they are able to lift themselves from poverty to self-reliance. The rich are made low because they humble themselves to give generously of their means to those in need" (Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Inspired Church Welfare," Ensign, May 1999, 77).

"We teach emphatically the importance of self-reliance, the importance of education, of equipping our people so they can earn a living; the importance of saving and being prudent in the management of their affairs; the importance of setting something aside, a reserve, to take care of their needs if there should come a rainy day in their lives" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 585).

"We teach self-reliance as a principle of life, that we ought to provide for ourselves and take care of our own needs. And so we encourage our people to have something, to plan ahead, keep a little food on hand, to establish a savings account, if possible, against a rainy day. Catastrophes come to people sometimes when least expected—unemployment, sickness, things of that kind. The individual, as we teach, ought to do for himself all that he can do for himself" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 586).

"The foundation of self-reliance is hard work. Parents should teach their children that work is the prerequisite to achievement and success in every worthwhile endeavor. Children of legal age should secure productive employment and begin to move away from dependence on parents. None of us should expect others to provide for us that which we can provide for ourselves" (Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Fruits of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ," Ensign, Nov. 1991, 16).

"No amount of philosophizing, excuses, or rationalizing will ever change the fundamental need for self-reliance. This is so because:

" 'All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, . . . as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence' (D&C 93:30). The Lord declares that herein lies 'the agency of man' (see D&C 93:31), and with this agency comes the responsibility for self. With this agency we can rise to glory or fall to condemnation. May we individually and collectively be ever self-reliant. This is our heritage and our obligation.

"The principle of self-reliance stands behind the Church's emphasis on personal and family preparedness" (Spencer W. Kimball, "Becoming the Pure in Heart," Ensign, May 1978, 79).

"No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life" (Spencer W. Kimball, "Welfare Services: The Gospel in Action," Ensign, Nov. 1977, 77-78).

"There are several principles which undergird the significance of work in the Lord's plan. First, as the covenant people we must be as self-sufficient as possible. We are to be free from dependence upon a dole or any program that might endanger our free agency. Second, we must work to support the families with which the Lord has blessed us. Every true son of God wants to care for his own, and many a noble mother, from whom a husband has been taken, struggles to support her children, both as a breadwinner and a single parent. Finally, we work so that we may have the necessities of life, conserving time and energy left over for service in the Lord's work. Sometimes it seems that the men who work the hardest at their occupations are the men most willing to devote time to church service" (Howard W. Hunter, "Prepare for Honorable Employment," Ensign, Nov. 1975, 122).

"If you want the blessing, don't just kneel down and pray about it. Prepare yourselves in every conceivable way you can in order to make yourselves worthy to receive the blessing you seek. . . . President Young said, . . . 'If we are sick and ask the Lord to heal us and to do all for us that is necessary, according to my understanding of the gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow without my plowing the ground and casting the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge and then ask my Father in Heaven in the name of Jesus Christ to sanctify that application to the healing of my body' " (Harold B. Lee, "How to Receive a Blessing from God," Improvement Era, Oct. 1966, 896).

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