Ezra Taft Benson
"I would like to stress…what the scriptures term ‘godly sorrow’ for our sins. It is not uncommon to find men and women in the world who feel remorse for the things they do wrong. Sometimes this is because their actions cause them or loved ones great sorrow and misery. Sometimes their sorrow is caused because they are caught and punished for their actions. Such worldly feelings do not constitute ’godly sorrow.’
"Godly sorrow is vividly portrayed in two places in scripture. In the final days of the Nephite nation, Mormon said of his people: ’their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin. And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die’ (Morm. 2:13-14).
"In the Eastern Hemisphere, the Apostle Paul labored among the people of Corinth. After reports came of serious problems among the Saints, including immorality (see 1 Cor. 5:1), Paul wrote a sharp letter of rebuke. The people responded in the proper spirit, and evidently the problems were corrected, for in his second epistle to them, Paul wrote: ’Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner.…For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death’ (2 Cor. 7:9-10). In both of these scriptures, godly sorrow is defined as a sorrow that leads us to repentance.
“Godly sorrow is a gift of the Spirit. It is a deep realization that our actions have offended our Father and our God. It is the sharp and keen awareness that our behavior caused the Savior, He who knew no sin, even the greatest of all, to endure agony and suffering. Our sins caused Him to bleed at every pore. This very real mental and spiritual anguish is what the scriptures refer to as having ’a broken heart and a contrite spirit.’ Such a spirit is the absolute prerequisite for true repentance.” (Ensign, Oct. 1989, “First Presidency Message”)
Spencer W. Kimball
"Often people indicate that they have repented when all they have done is to express regret for a wrong act. But true repentance is marked by that godly sorrow that changes, transforms, and saves. To be sorry is not enough. Perhaps the felon in the penitentiary, coming to realize the high price he must pay for his folly, may wish he had not committed the crime. That is not repentance. The vicious man who is serving a stiff sentence for rape may be very sorry he did the deed, but he is not repentant if his heavy sentence is the only reason for his sorrow. That is the sorrow of the world.
“The truly repentant man is sorry before he is apprehended. He is sorry even if his secret is never known. He desires to make voluntary amends…Repentance of the godly type means that one comes to recognize the sin and voluntarily and without pressure from outside sources begins his transformation.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 153 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 473-4)
Neal A. Maxwell
“Recognition is a sacred moment…real remorse floods the soul…False remorse instead is like ’fondling our failings.’ In ritual regret, we mourn our mistakes but without mending them.” (Conference Report, Nov. 1991 Ensign, “Repentance”)
Neal A. Maxwell
“…the natural man never picks up the cross. His is the ’sorrowing of the damned,’ which involves regret but not necessarily over the sin itself. Instead, it is because these sorrowers can no longer take pleasure in sin (see Mormon 2:13). Quite a difference, for the natural man still clings, not to the cross, but to his old ways” (That Ye May Believe, p. 48)
Neal A. Maxwell
“…we see so much ‘sorrowing of the damned’-this by those in a psychological no-man’s-land (see Mormon 2:12–13). These individuals can no longer take pleasure in sin, but they do not fully repent, either. They hope somehow to be saved in their sins instead of being willing to ’give away all [their] sins’ in order to know God (Alma 22:18).” (If Thou Endure It Well, p. 16)