Karl G. Maeser

Karl G. Maeser (January 16, 1828 – February 15, 1901) was a prominent Utah educator and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is seen as the true founder of Brigham Young Academy and served as its principal for 16 years.

Quotes

 * I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first!
 * BYU Honor Code


 * The fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom. This life is one great object lesson to practice on the principles of immortality and eternal life. Man grows with his higher aims. Let naught that is unholy enter here.
 * Written on a chalk board during his Nov. 9th, 1900 visit to Maeser Elementary School in Provo, Utah; |date=1 Maeser Chalkboards Preserved


 * The fireside is an emblem of the future heavenly home...To obtain the highest conception of the calling of a man and a woman in the capacity of parents, one must look upon them from an educational point of view, for from no other does the grandeur of this sacred relationship so well present itself to the mind with all its intricate complexity. The home is the sanctuary of the human race, where each generation is consecrated for its life's mission. The parents are the high priests, responsible to God for the spirit of their ministry
 * School and Fireside (1898) pg 45, 59


 * Every human being is a world in miniature. It has its own centre of observation, its own way of forming concepts and of arriving at conclusions, its own degree of sensibility, its own life's work to do, and its own destiny to reach. All these features may be encompassed by general conditions, governed by general laws, and subject to unforeseen influences and incidents, but within the sphere of their own activity, they constitute that great principle which we call individuality.
 * School and Fireside (1898)


 * He that cheats another is a knave; but he that cheats himself is a fool.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * Youth demands recreation, and if it is not provided in high places, they will seek it in low places.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * No righteous rules, however rigid, are too stringent for me; I will live above them.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * Be yourself, but always your better self.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * I would rather trust my child to a serpent than to a teacher who does not believe in God.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * No man shall be more exacting of me or my conduct than I am of myself.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * Infidelity is consumption of the soul.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70


 * The Lord never does anything arbitrarily.
 * Sentence-Sermons from Brigham Young University Quarterly quoted in The Latter-Day Saints' Millenial Star, Vol. 70