Thoughts lead to acts, acts lead to habits, habits lead to character—and our character will determine our eternal destiny.
- Ezra Taft Benson
Used, among other places, in a 1989 First Presidency Message, President Benson here emphasizes the role that our thoughts play in determining our eternal destiny. There are branches of cognitive science today that would object to this, holding that thoughts are mostly an illusion. Of course, these same branches of science would object to the idea of eternity at all.
In the message, President Benson recalls a childhood lesson he learned from Karl G. Maeser (one of the founding fathers of BYU). From Maeser he learned that we will be judged at the last days for our thoughts because we will have become the product of our thoughts.
While we think about cleaning up our acts and repenting of our misdoings, we should also pay special attention to the architecture, furnishings, and activities of our mind.