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Martin Luther

168 quotes

• “Tell your master that if there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on its roofs, I would enter.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1521 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Psalm. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (translated by Frederic H. Hedge), Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). "On the 16th of April, 1521, Luther entered the imperial city [of Worms]... On his app…

• “Dear rulers … I maintain that the civil authorities are under obligation to compel the people to send their children to school. … If the government can compel such citizens as are fit for military service to bear spear and rifle, to mount ramparts, and perform other martial duties in time of war, how much more has it a right to compel the people to send their children to school, because in this case we are warring with the devil, whose object it is secretly to exhaust our cities and principalities of their strong men.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1524 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: letter to the German rulers (1524), as quoted in The History of Compulsory Education in New England, John William Perrin, 1896

• “A penny saved is of more value than a penny paid out (Der Sparpfennig ist reicher denn der Zinspfenning).”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Heretics cannot themselves appear good unless they depict the Church as evil, false, and mendacious. They alone wish to be esteemed as the good, but the Church must be made to appear evil in every respect.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1513 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Dictata super Psalterium (Dictations on the Psalter). This is Luther's first major work from the years 1513 to 1515. (See What Luther Says, Ewald Martin Plass, ed., vol. 3, p. 1590. )

• “Wer anders lehret, denn ich hierinn gelehret hab, oder mich darinn verdammt, der verdamt Gott, und muß ein Kind der Höllen bleiben.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1522 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Deutsche Antwort Luthers auf König Heinrichs von England Buch. German answer of Martin Luther to the Book of King Henry of England, 1522.

• “I shall not have it judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge and even the angels’ judge through this teaching (as St. Paul says [1 Cor. 6:3]) so that whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved - for it is God’s teaching and not mine.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1522 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So Called, July 1522.

• “Die heilige christliche Kirche ist das fürnehmeste Weil Gottes, umb welches willen Alles geschaffen ist; darinnen täglich die großen Wunder geschehen, als Sunde vergeben, Tod wegnehmen, Gerechtigkeit und ewiges Leben geben.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: In The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, 2003, Jeffrey J. Meyers, Canon, Pr., , p. 285.

• “It is an unsufferable blasphemy to reject the public ministry or to say that people can become holy without sermons and Church. This involves a destruction of the Church and rebellion against ecclesiastical order; such upheavals must be warded off and punished like all other revolts.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: In Luther, Hartmann Grisar, 1915, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, vol. 4, p. 126, (referencing, the Corpus Reformatorum, vol. 4, 737-740. [http://www.archive.org/details/luthergris04grisuoft

• “Wie David sagt: An dir allein Hab ich gesündigt, auf daß du gerecht seiest in deinen Worten; und zwar rechte Christen Hörens gern, daß man sie schilt und straft mit Göltes Wort. Aber diese, so ungestraft sein wöllen, bekennen damit frei, daß sie die rechten verzweifelten Buben sind, die hiemit auch in den heiligen Geist fündigen, als die nicht leiden wollen, daß er sie durch sein Predigtamt strafe.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1541 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Appeal For Prayer Against the Turks [Vermannung zum Gebet wider den Türken] (1541), as translated in Luther's Works, (1968), Vol. 43, , p. 228.

• “On account of this personal union and communion of the natures, Mary, the most blessed virgin, did not conceive a mere, ordinary human being, but a human being who is truly the Son of the most high God, as the angel testifies. He demonstrated his divine majesty even in his mother's womb in that he was born of a virgin without violating her virginity. Therefore she is truly the mother of God and yet remained a virgin.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Solid Declaration (1577), The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (1959) translated and edited by Theodore G. Tappert, Solid Declaration, Article VIII :The Person of Christ, p. 595, …

• “If women get tired and die of bearing, there is no harm in that; let them die as long as they bear; they are made for that.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The will is not free to strive toward whatever is declared good.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Man is by nature unable to want God to be God. Indeed, he himself wants to be God, and does not want God to be God.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “We do not become righteous by doing righteous deeds but, having been made righteous, we do righteous deeds.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Since the law is good, the will, which is hostile to it, cannot be good.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent," he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “To say that the cross emblazoned with the papal coat of arms, and set up by the indulgence preachers, is equal in worth to the cross of Christ is blasphemy.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When speaking of the spiritual nature or the soul, we are referring to that which is “inner” or “new.” When speaking of the bodily nature, or that which is flesh and blood, we are referring to that which is called “sensual,” “outward,” or “old.” Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:16: “Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Christ ought to be preached with this goal in mind — that we might be moved to faith in him so that he is not just a distant historical figure but actually Christ for you and me.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Faith is born and preserved in us by preaching why Christ came, what he brought and gave to us, and the benefits we obtain when we receive him. This happens when Christian liberty — which he gives to us — is rightly taught and we are told in what way as Christians we are all kings and priests and therefore lords of all.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A person must take care to exercise moderate discipline over the body and subject it to the Spirit by means of fasting, vigils, and labor. The goal is to have the body obey and conform — and not hinder — the inner person and faith. Unless it is held in check, we know it is the nature of the body to undermine faith and the inner person.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Through faith we are restored to paradise and created anew.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It is always necessary that the substance or essence of a person be good before there can be any good works and that good works follow and proceed from a person who is already good. Christ says in Matthew 7:18: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” ... The fruit does not make the tree good or bad but the tree itself is what determines the nature of the fruit. In the same way, a person first must be good or bad before doing a good or bad work.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A Christian has no need of any law in order to be saved, since through faith we are free from every law. Thus all the acts of a Christian are done spontaneously, out of a sense of pure liberty. As Christians we do not seek our own advantage or salvation because we are already fully satisfied and saved by God’s grace through faith. Now our only motive is to do that which is pleasing to God.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “In Matthew 12:23 Christ says: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad and its fruit bad,” as if to say: “Let the one who wishes to have good fruit begin by planting a good tree.” Therefore, let the person who wishes to do good works being not with the works but with the believing, for this alone makes a person good.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Many have been deceived by outward appearances and have proceeded to write and teach about good works and how they justify without even mentioning faith. … Wearying themselves with many works, they never come to righteousness.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Our preaching does not stop with the law. That would lead to wounding without binding up, striking down and not healing, killing and not making alive, driving down to hell and not bringing back up, humbling and not exalting. Therefore, we must also preach grace and the promise of forgiveness — this is the means by which faith is awakened and properly taught. Without this word of grace, the law, contrition, penitence, and everything else are done and taught in vain.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The Apostle Paul wants us to work with our hands in order to share with the needy (Ephesians 5:28). Notice that he could have said that we should work to support ourselves. But Paul says that we work to give to those in need. This is why caring for our body is also a Christian work. If the body is healthy and fit, we are able to work and save money that can be used to help those in need.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Lying and guile need only to be revealed and recognized to be undone. When once lying is recognized as such, it needs no second stroke; it falls of itself and vanishes in shame.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “We must calm the mind of the common man, and tell him to abstain from the words and even the passions which lead to insurrection.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Insurrection ... never brings about the desired improvement. For insurrection lacks discernment; it generally harms the innocent more than the guilty. Hence, no insurrection is ever right, no matter how right the cause it seeks to promote.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Those who read and rightly understand my teaching will not start an insurrection; they have not learned that from me.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There is no need for you to develop an armed insurrection. Christ himself has already begun an insurrection with his mouth.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “An armed insurrection ... would hinder and bring into disrepute this spiritual insurrection.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I ask that men make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine [John 7:16]. Neither was I crucified for anyone [I Cor. 1:13]. St. Paul, in I Corinthians 3, would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian. How then should I—poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am—come to have men call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “God the Almighty has made our rulers mad; they actually think they can do—and order their subjects to do—whatever they please. And the subjects make the mistake of believing that they, in turn, are bound to obey their rulers in everything.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I would take to be quite a fool any man who would make a book full of laws and statutes for an apple tree telling it how to bear apples and not thorns, when the tree is able by its own nature to do this better than the man with all his books can describe and demand.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Certainly it is true that Christians, so far as they themselves are concerned, are subject neither to law nor sword, and have need of neither. But take heed and first fill the world with real Christians before you attempt to rule it in a Christian and evangelical manner. This you will never accomplish; for the world and the masses are and always will be un-Christian, even if they are all baptized and Christian in name.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I will first discuss images according to the Law of Moses, and then according to the gospel. And I say at the outset that according to the Law of Moses no other images are forbidden than an image of God which one worships. A crucifix, on the other hand, or any other holy image is not forbidden. Heigh now! you breakers of images, I defy you to prove the opposite!”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Now I say this to keep the conscience free from mischievous laws and fictitious sins, and not because I would defend images. Nor would I condemn those who have destroyed them, especially those who destroy divine and idolatrous images. But images for memorial and witness, such as crucifixes and images of saints, are to be tolerated.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Throughout your treatment you forget that you said that 'free-will' can do nothing without grace, and you prove that 'free-will' can do all things without grace! Your inferences and analogies "For if man has lost his freedom, and is forced to serve sin, and cannot will good, what conclusion can more justly be drawn concerning him, than that he sins and wills evil necessarily?”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “By the law is the knowledge of sin [Rom 3:20], so the word of grace comes only to those who are distressed by a sense of sin and tempted to despair.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “As to why some are touched by the law and others not, so that some receive and others scorn the offer of grace...[this is the] hidden will of God, Who, according to His own counsel, ordains such persons as He wills to receive and partake of the mercy preached and offered.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Let all the 'free-will' in the world do all it can with all its strength; it will never give rise to a single instance of ability to avoid being hardened if God does not give the Spirit, or of meriting mercy if it is left to its own strength.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I say that man without the grace of God nonetheless remains the general omnipotence of God who effects, and moves and impels all things in a necessary, infallible course; but the effect of man's being carried along is nothing--that is, avails nothing in God's sight, nor is reckoned to be anything but sin.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “All the passages in the Holy Scriptures that mention assistance are they that do away with "free-will", and these are countless...For grace is needed, and the help of grace is given, because "free-will" can do nothing.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “We refuse to have our conscience bound by any work or law, so that by doing this or that we should be righteous, or leaving this or that undone we should be damned.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Our stubbornness is right, because we want to preserve the liberty which we have in Christ. Only by preserving our liberty shall we be able to retain the truth of the Gospel inviolate.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Some will object that the Law is divine and holy. Let it be divine and holy. The Law has no right to tell me that I must be justified by it.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Leave the ass burdened with laws behind in the valley. But your conscience, let it ascend with Isaac into the mountain.”

  Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

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