Apologetics

"Be willing to receive truth, let it come form whom it may [...] If the infidel has got truth it belongs to 'Mormonism.' The truth and sound doctrine possessed by the sectarian world, and they have a great deal, all belong to this Church [...] If you can find a truth in heaven, earth, or hell, it belongs to our doctrine. We believe it; it is ours; we claim it." Brigham Young (Priesthood/RS Manual 16).

"Be smart...There are few things more pathetic than those who have lost their curiosity and sense of adventure, and who no longer care to learn." "We need to immerse ourselves more in the thoughts of great minds" Gordon Hinckley (Way to Be! 28;103)

"I believe we should cultivate our minds-read stimulating books, ask questions, seek explanations, talk ideas, listen to wise men and women, and without fear to express our thoughts" Lowell Bennion

"Of course, as in any community of people there are influences which would depreciate the value of literature and other artistic forms [...]. One of these negative influences is our desire to avoid controversy. Most good literature is about troubling subjects , but many of us tend to read things that don't disturb us. [...] Sometimes we as Mormons slip into misinterpreting why we should savor literary writing. We forget that literature can teach us that we are all God's children" John Bennion (Collegiate Post 03/01)

"[I]f literature is made to be a study of human nature, you cannot have a Christian Literature. It is a contradiction in terms to attempt a sinless Literature of sinful man. You may gather together something very great and high, something higher than any Literature ever was; and when you have done so, you will find that it is not Literature after all...Give up the study of man, as such, if so it must be; but say you do so. Do not say you are studying him, his history, his mind and his heart, when you are studying something else". Cardinal John Henry Newman ("Duties of the Church Toward Knowledge")