After publishing the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith showed little lasting enthusiasm for his own creation.

“[Joseph Smith] did not refer to passages from the book in his writings or sermons, nor was it cited very often by early church leaders.”

Royal Skousen, The Earliest Texts (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), xxii.

Over time, his actions began to diverge from the book’s more biblical roots, as he introduced new, often contradictory doctrines and pursued plural marriage. Several witnesses noted his dismissive attitude toward the Book of Mormon. When placing the Original Manuscript in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House, he reportedly remarked:

“I have had trouble enough with this thing.”

see Ernest H. Taves, Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1984), 160.