Mormon Quotes

Emma Smith

Brigham Young
The sympathies of the Latterday Saints are with the family of the martyred prophet. I never saw a day in the world that I would not almost worship that woman, Emma Smith, if she would be a saint instead of being a devil... [We] would have been exceeding glad if the prophet's family had come with us when we left Nauvoo... We would have made cradles for them... and would have fed them on milk and honey. Emma is naturally a very smart woman; she is subtle and ingenious.... she has made her children inherit lies. To my certain knowledge Emma Smith is one of the damnest liars I know of on this earth; yet there is no good thing I would refuse to do for her, if she would only be a righteous woman.
Brigham Young, Spoken October 1, 1866, via "The Lion and the Lady," Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 48, Winter 1980, p. 82
David Whitmer
Some of the men were excessive chewers of the filthy weed, and their disgusting slobbering and spitting cause Mrs. [Emma] Smith... to make the ironical remark that 'It would be a good thing if a revelation could be had declaring the use of tobacco a sin, and commanding its suppression'.... The matter was taken up and joked about, one of the brethren suggested that the revelation should also provide for a total abstinence from tea and coffee drinking, intending this as a counter dig at the sisters.
David Whitmer, Des Moines Daily News, October 16, 1886, p. 20
Joseph Smith III
About 1842, a new and larger house was built for us.... Father proceeded to build an extensive addition running out from the south wing to the east.... At any rate, it seemed spacious then, and a sign was put out giving it the dignified name of 'The Nauvoo Mansion,' ... Mother was to be installed as landlady, and soon made a trip to Saint Louis.... When she returned Mother found installed in the keeping‑room of the hotel ‑ that is to say, the main room where the guests assembled and where they were received upon arrival — a bar, with counter, shelves, bottles, glasses, and other paraphernalia customary for a fully‑equipped tavern bar, and Porter Rockwell in charge as tender. She was very much surprised and disturbed over this arrangement, but said nothing for a while... she asked me where Father was. I told her he was in the front room... Then she told me to go and tell him she wished to see him. I obeyed, and returned with him to the hall where Mother awaited him. 'Joseph,' she asked, 'for the spiritual head of a religious body to be keeping a hotel in which is a room fitted out as a liquor‑selling establishment.' He reminded her that all taverns had their bars at which liquor was sold or dispensed. Mother's reply came emphatically clear, though uttered quietly: 'Well, Joseph, ... I will take my children and go across to the old house and stay there, for I will not have them raised up under such conditions as this arrangement imposes on us, nor have them mingle with the kind of men who frequent such a place. You are at liberty to make your choice; either that bar goes out the house, or we will!' It did not take Father long to make that choice, for he replied immediately, 'Very well, Emma; I will have it removed at once' — and he did.
Joseph Smith III, The Saint's Herald, January 22, 1935, p. 101
Ezra Pierce
[It was] common then for everybody to drink, and to have a drink in the field; one time Joe, while working for some one after he was married, drank too much boiled cider. He came in with his shirt torn; his wife felt bad about it, and when they went home, she put her shawl on him.
Ezra Pierce, Saint's Herald, v. 28, no. 11, June 1, 1881, p. 167
W. L. Hines
Jo stole his wife... while [Isaac] Hale [Emma's Father] was at Church. My wife and I saw him on an old horse with Emma on behind as they passed our house on their way to [be]... married.
W. L. Hines, W. L. Hines statement in Naked Truths About Mormonism, No.1, 1888
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