Martin Luther Quotes on Truth
For Martin Luther, truth meant above all the truth of the Gospel, and the quotes gathered here show how inseparable that conviction was from his courage and his combativeness. His reported words before the Diet of Worms, here I stand, I can do no other, became the emblem of a conscience bound by Scripture against all worldly authority. Luther held that the central truth of the Gospel is justification by faith alone, and that Christian liberty must be guarded precisely in order to keep that truth inviolate. He observed bitterly that superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes a-begging. Drawn largely from his commentary on Galatians and his Table Talk, these passages present truth as something to be confessed and defended at cost.
Quotes
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“Here I stand. I can do no other.”
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 will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against con -
Attributed to Martin Luther:
“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals.”
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Attributed to Martin Luther:
“A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”
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“His Mohammed, as has been said, commands that ruling is to be done by the sword, and in his Koran the sword is the commonest and noblest work. Thus the Turk is, in truth, nothing but a murderer or highwayman, as his deeds show before men’s eyes.”
On War against the Turk (1529) -
“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.”
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians(1535) | Chapter 2 -
“The true Gospel has it that we are justified by faith alone, without the deeds of the Law.”
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians(1535) | Chapter 2 -
“For Christ is Joy and Sweetness to a broken heart. Christ is a Lover of poor sinners, and such a Lover that He gave Himself for us. Now if this is true, and it is true, then are we never justified by our own righteousness.”
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians(1535) | Chapter 3, verse 20 -
“Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes a-begging.”
Table Talk(1569) | 53 -
“Faith looks to the word and the promise; that is, to the truth. But hope looks to that which the word has promised, to the gift.”
Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers(1895) | p. 221 -
“"She is rightly called not only the mother of the man, but also the Mother of God ... It is certain that Mary is the Mother of the real and true God.”
Weimar edition of Martin Luther's Works, English translation edited by J. Pelikan [Concordia: St. Louis], Vol. 11, Vol. 24, 107