Hugh Nibley
"In each dispensation the world went bad while the prophets united in futile protest, as in the days of Samuel, Hezekiah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. In the powerful phrase of Ether, 'the prophets mourned and withdrew from among the people' (Ether 11:13). The prophets always tended to form societies of their own for mutual comfort and security, for they usually appear in numbers in time of crisis: 'And in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent' (1 Nephi 1:4). They were not well received." (Temple and Cosmos, p. 386)