Martin Luther

134 quotes

• If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.

• So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!

• Beer is made by men, wine by God.

• There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.

• Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

• We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.

• This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.

• You have as much laughter as you have faith.

• Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.

• Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.

• True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue.

• Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.

• There never yet have been, nor are there now, too many good books.

• Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.

• Let the wife make her husband glad to come home and let him make her sorry to see him leave.

• I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.

• I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

• The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much esteemed were it not so common. Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest.

• I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.

• God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.

• I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word Till soul and body sever, For, though all things shall pass away, HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!

• Though all my heart should feel condemned For want of some sweet token, There is One greater than my heart Whose Word cannot be broken.

• Feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving; My warrant is the Word of God-- Naught else is worth believing.

• My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.

• The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.

• You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say

• Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!

• Although it is very easy to marry a wife, it is very difficult to support her along with the children and the household. Accordingly, no one notices this faith of Jacob. Indeed, many hate fertility in a wife for the sole reason that the offspring must be supported and brought up. For this is what they commonly say: ‘Why should I marry a wife when I am a pauper and a beggar? I would rather bear the burden of poverty alone and not load myself with misery and want.’ But this blame is unjustly fastened on marriage and fruitfulness. Indeed, you are indicting your unbelief by distrusting God’s goodness, and you are bringing greater misery upon yourself by disparaging God’s blessing. For if you had trust in God’s grace and promises, you would undoubtedly be supported. But because you do not hope in the Lord, you will never prosper.

• Since then your sere Majesty and your Lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.

• All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.

• One Book is enough, but a thousand books is not too many!

• Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.

• A person who...does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.

• Pray, and let God worry.

• They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.

• The heart overflows with gladness, and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God. In this experience the Holy Spirit is active, and has taught us in the flash of a moment the deep secret of joy. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.

• All the cunning of the devil is exercised in trying to tear us away from the word.

• Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.

• The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God....Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.

• Peace if possible. Truth at all costs.

• God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.

• A unjust law, is no law at all.

• I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my Guide.

• I cannot choose but adhere to the word of God, which has possession of my conscience; nor can I possibly, nor will I even make any recantation, since it is neither safe nor honest to act contrary to conscience! Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God! Amen.

• You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair

• There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.

• It is better to think of church in the ale-house than to think of the ale-house in church.

• This grace of God is a very great, strong, mighty and active thing. It does not lie asleep in the soul. Grace hears, leads, drives, draws, changes, works all in man, and lets itself be distinctly felt and experienced. It is hidden, but its works are evident.

• Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.

• This grace of God is a very great, strong, mighty and active thing. It does not lie asleep in the soul. Grace hears, leads, drives, draws, changes, works all in man, and lets itself be distinctly felt and experienced. It is hidden, but its works are evident.

• To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.

• The soul can do without everything except the word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for.

• By faith we began, by hope we continue, and by revelation we shall obtain the whole.

• Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.

• The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.

• A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.

• To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.

• I’ve got so much work to do today, I’d better spend two hours in prayer instead of one.

• Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.

• The truth of the matter is rather as Christ says, "He who is not with me is against me." ... He does not say "He who is not with me is not against me either, but merely neutral."

• This is the reason why our Theology is certain: because it seizes us from ourselves and places us outside ourselves.

• One learns more of Christ in being married and rearing children than in several lifetimes spent in study in a monastery.

• Strange, though I am saved from sin, I am not saved from sinning.

• Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge.

• How can a reason which hates God be called sound?

• Here I stand; I can do no other.

• Those speak foolishly who ascribe their anger or their impatience to such as offend them or to tribulation. Tribulation does not make people impatient, but proves that they are impatient. So everyone may learn from tribulation how his heart is constituted.

• The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands

• A woman must be a woman and cannot be a man. She, too, is God’s creature and her divine station is that she should bear and care for and rear children. So I am a man created for another office and work. But should I be proud because of this and say: I am not a woman, therefore I am better in the sight of God? Should I not rather praise God for creating both the woman and me also through the woman and putting me in this station? What a un-Christian thing it is that one should despire another because he is in another station or is doing something other then he is doing?... "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled." for God will not and can not tolerate such pride and arrogance.

• For all works and things, which are either commanded or forbidden by God and thus have been instituted by the supreme Majesty, are ’musts.’ Nevertheless, no one should be dragged to them or away from them by the hair, for I can drive no man to heaven or beat him into it with a club.

• The truth of the matter is rather as Christ says, "He who is not with me is against me." ... He does not say "He who is not with me is not against me either, but merely neutral."

• Those speak foolishly who ascribe their anger or their impatience to such as offend them or to tribulation. Tribulation does not make people impatient, but proves that they are impatient. So everyone may learn from tribulation how his heart is constituted.

• To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching.

• Be careful not to measure your holiness by other people’s sins.

• And though this world with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.

• For the kingdom is not being prepared, but has been prepared, while the sons of the Kingdom are being prepared, not preparing the Kingdom; that is to say, the Kingdom merits the sons, not the songs the Kingdom. So all hell merits and prepares its children rather than they it.

• To such a one we must say: 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 unchristian, even if they are all baptized and Christian in name. Christians are few and far between (as the saying is). Therefore, it is out of the question that there should be a common Christian government over the whole world, or indeed over a single country or any considerable body of people, for the wicked always outnumber the good. Hence, a man who would venture to govern an entire country or the world with the gospel would be like a shepherd who should put together in one fold wolves, lions, eagles, and sheep, and let them mingle freely with one another, saying, “Help yourselves, and be good and peaceful toward one another. The fold is open, there is plenty of food. You need have no fear of dogs and clubs.” The sheep would doubtless keep the peace and allow themselves to be fed and governed peacefully, but they would not live long, nor would one beast survive another.

• What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and work flow.

• In his life Christ is an example showing us how to live in his death he is a sacrifice satisfying our sins in his resurrection a conqueror in his ascension a king in his intercession a high priest.

• Preach [and live] as if Jesus was crucified yesterday, rose from the dead today, and is returning tomorrow.

• In the midst of the affliction He counsels, strengthens confirms, nourishes, and favors us.... More over, when we have repented, He instantly remits the sins as well as the punishments. In the same manner parents ought to handle their children.

• When God’s righteousness is mentioned in the gospel, it is God’s action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ. The righteousness by which a person is justified (declared righteous) is not his own but that of another, Christ.

• Here again you confuse and mix everything up in your usual way.

• It is with all these qualities that we must stand before God and intervene on behalf of those who do not have them, as though clothed with someone else’s garment...But even before men we must, with the same love, render them service against their detractors and those who are violent toward them; for this is what Christ did for us

• Thus my learning is not my own; it belongs to the unlearned and is the debt I owe them...My wisdom belongs to the foolish, my power to the oppressed. Thus my wealth belongs to the poor, my righteousness to the sinners...

• It is with all these qualities that we must stand before God and intervene on behalf of those who do not have them, as though clothed with someone else’s garment...But even before men we must, with the same love, render them service against their detractors and those who are violent toward them; for this is what Christ did for us.

• To progress is always to begin always to begin again

• If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battle fields besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

• Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture.

• Faith is a living, unshakable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain that someone would die a thousand times for it.

• The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands

• Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.

• many pass for saints on earth whose souls are in hell.

• The gospel cannot be truly preached without offense and tumult.

• Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

• No great saint lived without errors.

• Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.

• ‎What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and work flow.

• If you want to interpret well and confidently, set Christ before you, for He is the man to whom it all applies, every bit of it.

• Why do you rant and brag with such a spate of words, as if you wanted to overwhelm me with a sort of tempest and deluge of oratory-which nevertheless falls with the greater force on your own head, while my ark rides aloft in safety?

• Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.

• Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional savior.

• In the midst of the affliction He counsels, strengthens confirms, nourishes, and favors us.... More over, when we have repented, He instantly remits the sins as well as the punishments. In the same manner parents ought to handle their children.

• No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience. Whenever I have prayed earnestly, I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes.

• If anyone attempted to rule the world by the gospel and to abolish all temporal law and sword on the plea that all are baptized and Christian, and that, according to the gospel, there shall be among them no law or sword - or need for either - pray tell me, friend, what would he be doing? He would be loosing the ropes and chains of the savage wild beasts and letting them bite and mangle everyone, meanwhile insisting that they were harmless, tame, and gentle creatures; but I would have the proof in my wounds. Just so would the wicked under the name of Christian abuse evangelical freedom, carry on their rascality, and insist that they were Christians subject neither to law nor sword, as some are already raving and ranting.

• When God’s righteousness is mentioned in the gospel, it is God’s action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ. The righteousness by which a person is justified (declared righteous) is not his own but that of another, Christ.

• God made man out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.

• The soul can do without everything except the word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for.

• A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.

• Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional savior.

• No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience. Whenever I have prayed earnestly, I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes.

• If there is anything in us, it is not our own; it is a gift of God. But if it is a gift of God, then it is entirely a debt one owes to love, that is, to the law of Christ. And if it is a debt owed to love, then I must serve others with it, not myself.

• You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

• Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

• He [Christ] died for me. He made His righteousness mine and made my sin His own; and if He made my sin His own, then I do not have it, and I am free.

• That is what Reason can neither grasp nor endure, and what has offended all these men of outstanding talent who have been so received for so many centuries. Here they demand that God should act according to human justice, and do what seems right to them or else cease to be God.

• Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man does evil works.

• It is neither right nor safe to go against my conscience.

• The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

• If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that little point which the world and the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

• A woman must be a woman and cannot be a man. She, too, is God’s creature and her divine station is that she should bear and care for and rear children. So I am a man created for another office and work. But should I be proud because of this and say: I am not a woman, therefore I am better in the sight of God? Should I not rather praise God for creating both the woman and me also through the woman and putting me in this station? What a un-Christian thing it is that one should despire another because he is in another station or is doing something other then he is doing?... "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled." for God will not and can not tolerate such pride and arrogance.

• For all works and things, which are either commanded or forbidden by God and thus have been instituted by the supreme Majesty, are ’musts.’ Nevertheless, no one should be dragged to them or away from them by the hair, for I can drive no man to heaven or beat him into it with a club.

• For this reason one must carefully distinguish between these two governments. Both must be permitted to remain; the one to produce righteousness, the other to bring about external peace and prevent evil deeds. Neither one is sufficient in the world without the other. No one can become righteous in the sight of God by means of the temporal government, without Christ’s spiritual government. Christ’s government does not extend over all men; rather, Christians are always a minority in the midst of non-Christians. Now where temporal government or law alone prevails, there sheer hypocrisy is inevitable, even though the commandments be God’s very own. For without the Holy Spirit in the heart no one becomes truly righteous, no matter how fine the works he does. On the other hand, where the spiritual government alone prevails over land and people, there wickedness is given free rein and the door is open for all manner of rascality, for the world as a whole cannot receive or comprehend it.

• By faith we began, by hope we continue, and by revelation we shall obtain the whole.

• To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching.

• Maternity is a glorious thing, since all mankind has been conceived, born, and nourished of women. All human laws should encourage the multiplication of families.

• The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

• As long as we live there is never enough singing.

• The gospel cannot be truly preached without offense and tumult.

• God made man out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.

• In his life Christ is an example showing us how to live in his death he is a sacrifice satisfying our sins in his resurrection a conqueror in his ascension a king in his intercession a high priest.

• God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.

• This is the most dangerous trial of all, when there is no trial and every thing goes well; for then a man is tempted to forget God, to become too bold and to misuse times of prosperity.

• To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.