“How thankful we ought to be ... how thankful we are, for a prophet to counsel us in words of divine wisdom as we walk our paths in these complex and difficult times. The solid assurance we carry in our hearts, the conviction that God will make his will known to his children through his recognized servant is the real basis of our faith and activity. We either have a prophet or we have nothing: and having a prophet, we have everything” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, pgs. 499–500).

Agency


(1) “There is also an age-old excuse: “The devil made me do it.” Not so! He can deceive you and mislead you, but he does not have the power to force you or anyone else to transgress or to keep you in transgression.” 
(President Boyd K. Packer, Cleansing the Inner Vessel, General Conference, October 2010)  
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/cleansing-the-inner-vessel?lang=eng

(2) "The voice of the Lord is clear and unmistakable. He knows you. He loves you. He wants you to be eternally happy. But according to your God-given agency, the choice is yours. Each one of you has to decide for yourself if you are going to ignore the past and suffer the painful mistakes and tragic pitfalls that have befallen previous generations, experiencing for yourself the devastating consequences of bad choices. How much better your life will be if you will follow the noble example of the faithful followers of Christ such as the sons of Helaman, Moroni, Joseph Smith, and the stalwart pioneers—and choose, as they did, to remain faithful to your Heavenly Father’s commandments." 
(Elder M. Russell Ballard, Learning the Lessons from the Past, General Conference, April 2009)  
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/learning-the-lessons-of-the-past?lang=eng  

(3) "Clearly, one primary purpose of our existence upon the earth is to obtain a body of flesh and bones. We have also been given the gift of agency. In a thousand ways we are privileged to choose for ourselves. Here we learn from the hard taskmaster of experience. We discern between good and evil. We differentiate as to the bitter and the sweet. We discover that there are consequences attached to our actions.""By obedience to God’s commandments, we can qualify for that “house” spoken of by Jesus when He declared: “In my Father’s house are many mansions. … I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2–3)" 
(President Thomas S. Monson, The Race of Life, General Conference, Apr 2012)    

(4) "The promptings that come to us to flee evil reflect our Heavenly Father’s understanding of our particular strengths and weaknesses and His awareness of the unforeseen circumstances of our lives. When these promptings come, they will not generally stop us in our tracks, for the Spirit of God does not speak with a voice of thunder. The voice will be as soft as a whisper, coming as a thought to our minds or a feeling in our hearts. By heeding its gentle promptings, we will be protected from the destructive consequences of sin."
"But if we ignore those promptings, the light of the Spirit will fade. Our agency will be limited or lost, and we will lose the confidence and ability to act. We will be “walking in [spiritual] darkness at noon-day.” Then how easy it is to wander into strange paths and become lost! How quickly we are bound in the chains of sin spoken of by Lehi to his rebellious sons." 
(Elder Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, General Conferen, Apr 2006)
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/to-act-for-ourselves-the-gift-and-blessings-of-agency?lang=eng

(5) "Lucifer in clever ways manipulates our choices, deceiving us about sin and consequences. He, and his angels with him, tempt us to be unworthy, even wicked. But he cannot, in all eternity he cannot, with all his power he cannot completely destroy us; not without our own consent. Had agency come to man without the Atonement, it would have been a fatal gift." 
(Elder Boyd K. Packer, Atonement, Agency, and Accountability, General Conference, Apr 1988) 
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1988/04/atonement-agency-accountability?lang=eng

(6) "My beloved young sisters, you have the precious gift of agency. I plead with you to choose to obey."
(Pres. Thomas S. Monson, Believe, Obey and Endure, Liahona, Mayo 2012)
http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/05/believe-obey-and-endure?lang=eng&query=agency

(7) "With His gift of moral agency, our Heavenly Father has graciously provided us help to exercise that agency in a way that will yield precious, positive fruit in our life here and hereafter." 
(Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Moral Agency, Ensign, June 2009) 
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/06/moral-agency?lang=eng

(8) "With the right of choice comes the responsibility to choose. Our Heavenly Father provided the means whereby we could receive from Him God-given guidance. I speak of prayer, of the whisperings from that still, small voice within each of us, and the holy scriptures. Each of us has come to this earth with all the tools necessary to make correct choices. The prophet Mormon tells us, “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moroni 7:16).
"To make decisions wisely, courage is needed—the courage to say no, the courage to say yes. I plead with you to make a determination right now not to deviate from the path which will lead to our goal: eternal life with our Father in Heaven."
(Pres. Thomas S. Monson,How to Make Good Decision, General Conference, Oct 2010)

(9) "I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for His gift of agency, or the right to choose. Each of us has come to this earth with all the tools necessary to make correct choices."
(Pres. Thomas S. Monson, Decide Right Now, General COnference, Oct 2010)  

(10) "As we learn in these scriptures, the fundamental purposes for the gift of agency were to love one another and to choose God. Thus we become God’s chosen and invite His tender mercies as we use our agency to choose God." 
(Elder David Bednar, The Tender Mercies of the Lord, General Conference, Apr. 2005) 


 
 
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