Quotes from Martin Luther

For any work not directed toward the purpose of either disciplining the body or serving the neighbor (as long as the neighbor demands nothing against God) is neither good nor Christian.

If ever it seems good to God that the Turk should fall upon Germany, those mounds piled up at great expense and toil will not protect us, and in that case I would certainly not like to stay in this town; I would rather crawl out. But when we bend our knees and cry out to our Creator, He will be able to surround us with walls of fire, as is testified in Ps. 125:2: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people, from this time forth and for-evermore.

Be a sinner—believing and rejoicing in Christ more boldly than you sin. And do so because Christ has overcome sin, death, and the world. If we are in this world, then we cannot help but sin. Our existence is not the dwelling place of righteousness. As Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.5

Christ was born of Mary, suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day.

Do not argue at all with the devil and his temptations or accusations and arguments, nor, by the example of Christ, refute them. Just keep silent altogether; turn away and hold him in contempt. For no one conquers the devil by arguing with him, since he is incomparably more clever than all of us. But if you should not fight with the devil, much less should you do it with man. Rather you should put up with him, because he does not do the work himself, but the devil uses man as his tool.

Take the talents of wisdom and integrity. Without Christ, wisdom is double foolishness and integrity double sin, because they not only fail to perceive the wisdom and righteousness of Christ, but hinder and blaspheme the salvation of Christ.

For so it usually happens in the world. Righteous men are regarded as sinners and vice versa.

That is, as he says here, he should bend off neither to the right hand nor to the left, but move forward straight and firmly in prosperity and adversity, in strength and weakness, in glory and shame, clinging faithfully and bravely to the Word of God alone.

They turn the heart away much more strongly than adversity and want do, as he says in his song (Deut. 32:15): "Having become swollen, fat, and thick, he rebelled"; and (Prov. 1:32): "The prosperity of the foolish destroys them"; as is said also in the German proverb: "You need strong legs to hold up under good days." For man endures evil more easily than good, as the poet says: "Luxury has invaded as a deadlier foe."2

Even if there were 10 Popes or a thousand Popes, there would be no schism. The Unity of Christendom could be preserved under numerous heads just as the separated nations under different sovereigns dwell in concord.

God will not permit all men to enter heaven; those who are his own he will receive with all readiness.

The Turk is the rod of the wrath of the Lord our God... ...resisting the Turks, whom he presented as a scourge intentionally sent by God to sinning Christians, and that resisting it would have been equivalent to resisting the will of God...