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This devotional address entitled Self-esteem, A Great Human Need, was given on August 23 of 1983 by James E. Faust, then a member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It is an honor to be one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is an honor to be one of the participants of the Campus Education Week,

and to join all of you and to distinguish faculty which are participating here.

I am at once humbled and challenged in trying to speak of a great human need.

Self-esteem. I refer to what we think of ourselves, how we relate to what others think of us,

and the value of what we accomplished.

Shakespeare and Othello said,

I have never found a man that knew how to love himself.

The consequences of falling in love with oneself generally continue as an extended romance.

This is what Thomas Carlyle, the famous Scottish writer, referred to as the sixth insatiable sense.

And the English author Browning said, self-esteem the sixth insatiable sense.

And the English author Browning said, self-esteem is an itch for the praise of fools.

The self-esteem that I speak of today is something different.

It is not blind, arrogant, vain, self-love, but self-respecting, unconceited,

honest self-esteem. It is born of inner peace and strength. Last month I went to get my driver's license renewed.

I stood in the lines and looked at the eye charts.

Then I waited with everyone else for the picture-taking process.

In the picture on my license this time, my eyes are open.

Usually on my passport pictures and here tofore on my driver's license, they've been closed.

It was appalling to see the lack of self-esteem in so many who came to this public office.

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