“[I]n the midst of all these things, Joseph like his colleague prophets was so busy being a special witness for the Savior that he had little time to heed all of the false witness being borne about him. Joseph was usually more inclined to endure than explain himself, even though the drumbeat of dissent was at certain points almost unrelieved. In Nauvoo, in March 1842, for instance, while intensively engaged ‘day and evening’ in translating the Book of Abraham, he said that he simply did not have time to attend to all his public duties. His duties as a seer were more important than his ceremonial chores.”

[NOTE: Joseph Smith found the time to wed at least a dozen women in 1842]

“Joseph did not respond at times, of course, such as by issuing a summational disclaimer as from the temple stand in Nauvoo, saying, ‘I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.’”

Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 1988), 105-106.