January 18, 1845:
Since
[then] we [Brigham and Heber C. Kimball] have never turned to the right or to
the left. Neither of us was ever an enemy to Joseph smith; we never pulled him
back; we have always been ready to push him forwards; we never dictated to him
in the first things, but we assisted him in carrying it out. (Minutes of Young Family
Meeting, Nauvoo, Illinois, 18 January, 1845, Brigham Young Papers, as quoted in
Susan Easton Black, Joseph and Brigham: An Eternal Bond [Santaquin, Utah:
Aspen Books, 2021], 86)
October 23, 1853:
Brother
Kimball referred to Zion's camp going to Missouri. When I returned from that
mission to Kirtland, a brother said to me, "Brother Brigham, what have you
gained by this journey?" I replied, "Just what we went for; but I
would not exchange the knowledge I have received this season for the whole of
Geauga County; for property and mines of wealth are not to be compared to the
worth of knowledge." Ask those brethren and sisters who have passed
through scenes of affliction and suffering for years in this Church, what they
would take in exchange for their experience, and be placed back where they
were, were it possible. I presume they would tell you, that all the wealth,
honors, and riches of the world could not buy the knowledge they had obtained,
could they barter it away. (JOD 2:10)
