These distinctive writers, statesmen, scientists, and liberators all at one point were awarded a Nobel Prize for their achievements in peace, medicine, physics, or literature. They also have had their pearls of wisdom quoted at general conference, which is a feat less well publicized, but still an honorable mention to add to their accolades.

Mahatma Gandi

Mahatma Gandhi never actually received the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was honored posthumously in 1948. The Nobel Prize for Peace was not awarded to any other that year, and Gandhi had been nominated before his death. Nobel Committee members have publicly expressed regret over the omission, such as Geir Lundestad stating “The greatest omission in our 106-year history is undoubtedly that Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace prize. Gandhi could do without the Nobel Peace prize, whether Nobel committee can do without Gandhi is the question.” Hence, I have decided to include him at the top of this list as a Nobel Laureate.

“If a single man achieves the highest kind of love, it will be sufficient to neutralize the hate of millions.” —Mahatma Gandhi, quoted by David B. Haight in October 1982 General Conference

“Man’s destined purpose is to conquer all habits, to overcome the evil in him and to restore good to its rightful place.” —Mahatma Gandhi, quoted by Delbert L. Stapley in October 1974

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela was a revered South African statesman, philanthropist, and liberator who led his country out of apartheid.

“A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying” —Nelson Mandela, quoted by Dale G. Renlund in April 2015

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa, Catholic sister and missionary, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

“What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean, but if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less.” —Mother Teresa, quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland in October 2014

“One thing will always secure heaven for us—the acts of charity and kindness with which we have filled our lives.” and  “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” —Mother Teresa, quoted by Dallin H. Oaks in April 2009

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” —Mother Teresa, quoted by Thomas S. Monson in October 2010

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt, American statesman and soldier, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. … Every man who parrots the cry of ‘stand by the President’ without adding the proviso ‘so far as he serves the Republic’ takes an attitude as essentially unmanly as that of any Stuart royalist who championed the doctrine that the King could do no wrong. No self-respecting and intelligent free man could take such an attitude.” —Theodore Roosevelt, quoted by Ezra Taft Benson in April 1972 (Pres. Benson then added, ‘And yet as Latter-day Saints we should pray for our civic leaders and encourage them in righteousness.’)

“I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man.” —Theodore Roosevelt, quoted by James E. Faust in October 2002

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena” —Theodore Roosevelt, quoted by Thomas S. Monson in April 1987

George C. Marshall

George C. Marshall, an American statesman and soldier, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1953.

“We must take the nations of the world as they are, the human passions and prejudices of people as they exist, and find some way to secure … a peaceful world.”—George C. Marshall, quoted by Marvin J. Ashton in October 1985

Aristide Briand

Aristide Briand was a French statesman who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.

“The institutions are worth what the individuals are worth.” —Aristide Briand, quoted by Charles A. Didier in April 1976

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill, respected British statesman who lead his country during WWII , was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.

“To every man there comes … that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.” —Winston Churchill, quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland in  October 2000

“I have lived perhaps longer experience than almost anyone, and I have never brooded over a situation which demanded more patience, composure, courage and perseverance than that which unfolds itself before us today: The need of a prophet.” —Winston Churchill, quoted by Thomas S. Monson in April 1975

“Never give up, never give up, never, never, never.” —Winston Churchill, quoted by James E. Faust in October 1984

“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.” —Winston Churchill, quoted by Marvin J. Ashton in October 1989

Rudyard Kipling

English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907.

“The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart.
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget.”
—Rudyard Kipling, quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley in October 2000 and April 2004; Thomas S. Monson in October 1976, October 1982 and October 1995;  Ezra Taft Benson in April 1989

“Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!”
—Rudyard Kipling, quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley in October 2001

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright and critic, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them.” —George Bernard Shaw, quoted by Marvin J. Ashton in April 1988

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” —George Bernard Shaw, quoted by M. Russell Ballard in April 1981

W. B. Yeats

Irish poet W. B. Yeats received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.

Elder Maxwell quoted Yeats again in conference 6 years later, and again used a line from Yeats’ famous poem, ‘The Second Coming’.

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” —W. B. Yeats, quoted by Neal A. Maxwell in April 1999

Albert Camus

Albert Camus, a French philosopher and journalist, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

“By your actions or your silence, you, too, enter the fray.” —Albert Camus, quoted by David B. Haight in October 1984

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” —Albert Camus, quoted by Joseph B. Wirthlin in April 2006

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian writer, historian, and critic of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature.

“It is time … to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, quoted by Dallin H. Oaks in April 2014

Alexis Carrel

 French surgeon and biologist Dr. Alexis Carrel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912.

“Today as never before, prayer is a binding necessity in the lives of men and nations. The lack of emphasis on the religious sense has brought the world to an age of destruction. Our deepest source of power and perfection has been left miserably undeveloped.”—Alexis Carrel, quoted by Howard W. Hunter in October 1977

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, a German-born scientist who also was a citizen at times of Switzerland, Austria, and eventually the U.S., was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

“I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world. —Albert Einstein, quoted by James E. Faust in April 2000

“Many of the things you can count, do not count. Many of the things you cannot count, really do count.”—Albert Einstein, quoted by Dieter F. Uchtdorf in April 2015

Read more about Nobel Laureates at Wikipedia.org