Martin Luther

Leader of the Protestant Reformation

Early Modern influential 281 sayings

Sayings by Martin Luther

The devil is God’s devil.

1539 — From 'Table Talk'
Controversial Unverifiable

The mad mob does not ask how it could be better, only that it be different. And when it then becomes worse, it must change again.

1525 — From 'Against the Heavenly Prophets'
Controversial Unverifiable

A theologian is born by living, nay dying and being damned, not by thinking, reading, or speculating.

1539 — From 'Table Talk'
Controversial Unverifiable

I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours: it is the gift of God.

1539 — From 'Table Talk'
Controversial Unverifiable

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

— Attributed to Luther, but exact source unclear
Controversial Unverifiable

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.

1539 — From 'Table Talk'
Controversial Confirmed

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

— Attributed to Luther, but exact source unclear
Controversial Unverifiable

The whole being of any Christian is faith and love.

1520 — From 'The Freedom of a Christian'
Controversial Unverifiable

I would have been a saint if I had remained in the monastery, but I was forced to become a devil.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

When I am assailed by temptation, I merely eat and drink more, and laugh and joke, and so kill the thoughts.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

If I could understand how a good Christian could be a usurer, I would eat him.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

Reason is the Devil's greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore, a stinking whore, she is and must be a mischievous whore.

1525 — Against the Heavenly Prophets
Humorous Unverifiable

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach not a legal but a true and spiritual grace. If grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save those who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.

1521 — Letter to Melanchthon
Humorous Unverifiable

War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

You are not yet a master of the Scriptures. You will find that out when you try to preach.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold on me.

c. 1530s — Attributed
Humorous Unverifiable

I am a peasant's son; my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were genuine peasants.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

The hair is the finest ornament women have.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

There are three ways of growing: by study, by experience, and by prayer.

c. 1530s — Table Talk
Humorous Unverifiable

I never learned to pray as I ought until I had been scourged by the devil.

c. 1530s — Attributed
Humorous Unverifiable