Martin Luther > Quotes

“We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”
― Martin Luther

“My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.”
― Martin Luther

“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!”
― Martin Luther

“Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.”
― Martin Luther

“You have as much laughter as you have faith.”
― Martin Luther

“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.”
― Martin Luther

“There never yet have been, nor are there now, too many good books.”
― Martin Luther

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

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.

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!”
― Martin Luther

“Let the wife make her husband glad to come home and let him make her sorry to see him leave.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

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

“Beer is made by men, wine by God.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“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."

[Foreward to Georg Rhau's (1488-1548) Collection Symphoniae iucundae, 1538]”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther, The Sermons of Martin Luther

“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."

(Reply to the Diet of Worms, April 18, 1521)”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works

“There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.”
― Martin Luther

“Here I stand; I can do no other.”
― Martin Luther

“A unjust law, is no law at all.”
― Martin Luther, Bibelausgaben, Die Bibel Nach Der Übersetzung Martin Luthers, Mit Apokryphen, Neue Rechtschreibung, Schwarz

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say”
― Martin Luther

“Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.”
― Martin Luther

“There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my Guide.”
― Martin Luther

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right....”
― Martin Luther

“One Book is enough, but a thousand books is not too many!”
― Martin Luther

“Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.”
― Martin Luther

“It is neither right nor safe to go against my conscience.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“It is better to think of church in the ale-house than to think of the ale-house in church.”
― Martin Luther

“All the cunning of the devil is exercised in trying to tear us away from the word.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding. ”
― Martin Luther

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“I've got so much work to do today, I'd better spend two hours in prayer instead of one.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.”
― Martin Luther

“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.”
― Martin Luther

“Be thou comforted,little dog;thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.”
― Martin Luther