Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that just resonated with you on a level you would never have expected? Though it might seem strange to receive enlightenment from a sticky piece of plastic, you're not the only one. Many general authorities have shared wisdom from these often quippy, sometimes serious phrases.
Is it just me or has anyone noticed that general authorities really seem to like quoting bumper stickers? Sometimes they agree with the sticker, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they’re just joking around. I can think of three or four instances off the top of my head from recent years, but as you’re about to see, there are many more than that. Here’s a look at ten bumper sticker references from years past (along with five runners-up).
1. Have you hugged your child today?
This bumper sticker reference comes from Gordon B. Hinckley’s October 1978 General Conference address, Behold Your Little Ones.
"There is a bumper sticker seen much of late that asks the question, ‘Have you hugged your child today?’ How fortunate, how blessed is the child who feels the affection of his parents. That warmth, that love will bear sweet fruit in the years that follow. In large measure the harshness that characterizes so much of our society is an outgrowth of harshness imposed on children years ago."
2. Save the humans.
This bumper sticker appears right at the beginning of G. Homer Durham’s April 1984 talk Jesus the Christ: the Words and Their Meaning. Fun Fact: In the video (above), President Durham (from the presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy) omits the line, “This was not unusual,” an apparent joke that does appear in the text (below).
"Recently, while I was driving on the highway, a car passed. This was not unusual. The bumper sticker was a little different, saying, ‘Save the Humans.’ One sees many bumper stickers these days. This one turned my thoughts to something fundamental, the word save. I thought of the plan of salvation. I thought of the world of scholarship, and of Professor Arnold Toynbee’s analysis of the many so-called ‘saviours’ found in history. (A Study of History, abridgment, vols. VII–X, D. C. Somervell, chap. XX Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957.) We know that one Savior truly saves—the Lord Jesus Christ. This is His church. We have taken upon ourselves His name."