Self-Reliance

"The skill of building up and establishing the Zion of our God on the earth is to take the people and teach them how to take care of themselves and that which the Lord has entrusted to their care . . . to take what we have and divide amongst or give to people, without teaching them how to earn and produce, would be no more nor less than to introduce the means of reducing them to a state of poverty. I do not wish for one moment to recognize the idea that in order to establish the United Order our property has to be divided equally" (Journal of Discourses, 18:353-354, as quoted in Working Toward Zion, p. 95). - Brigham Young -