Modesty

"Do not use your purchasing power to support moral degradation. And young women, please understand that if you dress immodestly, you are magnifying this problem by becoming pornography to some of the men who see you." 
-Elder Dallin H. Oaks April 2013 General Conference

"And so, my dear young women, with all my heart I urge you not to look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors. Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow. Model yourselves after them, not after celebrities whose standards are not the Lord’s standards and whose values may not reflect an eternal perspective. Look to your mother. "
-Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Mothers and Daughters", April 2010 General Conference

“Popular culture today often makes women look silly, inconsequential, mindless, and powerless. It objectifies them and disrespects them and then suggests that they are able to leave their mark on mankind only by seduction—easily the most pervasively dangerous message the adversary sends to women about themselves.”

-Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Mothers and Daughters", April 2010 General Conference

"Sisters, be careful how you dress. I'm not here to give you a dress standard. Just dress in such a way that if the Lord came tomorrow and called a meeting together and invited you to attend that you would feel comfortable to a be in his presence" 
-Elder M. Russell Ballard At a fireside in Salt Lake City Tabernacle, Sunday September 19, 1999 

"Immodest dress also tarnishes the sacredness of the human body. Many
rationalizations have been put forth to justify immodest fashion and pornography. Some vigorously assert that no law can be adopted to prevent such expression and then argue that it can't be wrong because there is no law against it...some say dress and hair don't matter - it is inside that counts. I believe that truly it is what's inside a person that counts, but that's what worries me.  Casual dress at holy places and events is a message about what is inside that person. It may be pride or rebellion or something else, but at a minimum it says, "I don't get it. I don't understand the difference between the sacred and the profane." In that condition they are easily drawn away from the Lord. They do not appreciate the value of what they have. I worry about them. Unless they can gain some understanding and capture some feeling for sacred things, they are at risk of eventually losing all that matters most. You are Saints of the great latter-day dispensation - look the part." 
  -Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "A Sense of the Sacred". BYU fireside, November 2004

"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not!  "
-Jeffrey R. Holland, "To Young Women", October 2005 General Conference

"Another of the many things that lead to unchastity is immodesty. Today many young women and young men are smug in their knowledge of the facts of life. They think they know all the answers. They talk about sex as freely as they talk about cars and shows and clothes. And a spirit of immodesty has developed until nothing seems to be sacred."
-President Spencer W. Kimball, "Teaching Modesty and Virtue in the Home", Duties and Blessings of the Priesthood: Basic Manual for Priesthood Holders, Part A, 139

"I make a special appeal regarding how women might dress for Church services and Sabbath Worship. We used to speak of "best dress" or "Sunday Dress" and maybe we should do so again. In any case, from ancient times to modern we have always been invited to present our best selves inside and out when entering the house of the Lord--and a dedicated LDS Chapel is a "house of the Lord". Our clothing or footwear need never be expensive, indeed should not be expensive, but neither should it appear that we are on our way to the beach. When we come to worship the God and Father of us all and to partake of the sacrament symbolizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we should be as comely and respectful, as dignified and appropriate as we can be. We should be recognizable in appearance as well and in behavior that we truly are disciples of Christ, that in a spirit of worship we are meek and lowly of heart, that we truly desire the Savior's Spirit to be with us always."
-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, November 2005 Ensign

  "Modesty in dress and manner will assist in protecting against temptation. It may be difficult to find modest clothing, but it can be found with enough effort. I sometimes wish every girl had access to a sewing machine and training in how to use it. She could then make her own attractive clothing. I suppose this is an unrealistic wish. But I do not hesitate to say that you can be attractive without being immodest. You can be refreshing and buoyant and beautiful in your dress and in your behavior. Your appeal to others will come of your personality, which is the sum of your individual characteristics. Be happy. Wear a smile. Have fun. But draw some rigid parameters, a line in the sand, as it were, beyond which you will not go."  
-President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Stay on the High Road", 2004


"The rapid, sweeping deterioration of values is characterized by a preoccupation- even an obsession-with the procreative act. Abstinence before marriage and fidelity within its openly scoffed at-marriage and parenthood ridiculed as burdensome, unnecessary. Modesty, a virtue of a refined individual or society, is all but gone."
-Boyd K. Packer, "Our Moral Environment", April 1992 General Conference

My Thoughts

Ah, the ever present issue of modesty. This was my most favorite topic to collect quotes for. I think deep down I knew I struggled with the issue of modesty. While I didn't wear short skirts or super tight clothing, I definitely had/have a need to draw attention to myself with what I wear. I guess I didn't realize that was a modesty issue. I remember a few years back I wanted to put my hair in dreads, for some weird reason I never got around to it. I recognize now that the Spirit was prompting me not to do it, even though at the time I didn't recognize the Holy Ghost. I feel like I have such a better grasp on all the aspects that are involved in modesty. Modesty is so much more than the way we dress, it's the way we talk, dress and act!