Spencer W. Kimball on Setting Standards

"Samuel called the people together and explained to them that the people of the Lord should be different, with higher standards.  'We want to belike other peoples' they demanded.  'We do not want to be different.'

"Not so different are we today!  We want the glamour and frothiness of the world, not always realizing the penalties of our folly.  Others indulgein their social drinking- 'we must also have a king like unto other nations!'

"Styles are created by the vulgar and money-mad and run from one extreme to the other to out-date present wardrobes and create business for merchants.  We cannot be different.  We would rather die than be 'not up to date.'  If the dress is knee length we must go a little above the knee.  If the shorts are short we must have the shortest.  If bathing suits are skimpy, we must have the skimpiest.  'We must have a king like unto other nations!'

"The Lord says he will have a peculiar people but we do not wish to be peculiar.  If intimate fondling is the pattern of the crowd, we will
fondle.  'We must have a king like unto other nations!'

"Others have Hollywood marriages with finery and glitter and ostentatious pomposity.  We also must have candles, gowns, best men and ladies in waiting, often dangerously near immodestly dressed.  'We must have a king like unto other nations!'

"When, oh when, will our Latter-day Saints stand firm on their own feet, establish their own standards, follow proper patterns and live their own glorious lives in accordance with Gospel inspired patterns? Certainly good times and happy lives and clean fun are not dependent upon the glamorous, the pompous the extremes."

(Spencer W. Kimball, "Like all the Nations," Church News, 15 Oct 1960)