Inspirational Quotes by Martin Luther
“Come evening, I walk home and go into my study. In the passage I take off my ordinary clothes, caked with mud and slime, and put on my formal palace gowns. Then when I’m properly dressed I take my place in the courts of the past where the ancients welcome me kindly and I eat my fill of the only food that is really mine and that I was born for. I’m quite at ease talking to them and asking them why they did the things they did, and they are generous with their answers. So for four hours at a time I feel no pain, I forget all my worries, I’m not afraid of poverty and death doesn’t frighten me. I put myself entirely in their minds.”
“que el que ayuda a otro a hacerse poderoso causa su propia ruina. Porque es natural que el que se ha vuelto poderoso recele de la misma astucia o de la misma fuerza gracias a las cuales se lo ha ayudado.”
“As to how a Prince is to know his Minister, this unerring rule may be laid down. When you see a Minister thinking more of himself than of you, and in all his actions seeking his own ends, that man can never be a good Minister or one that you can trust.”
“For I do not believe that divisions purposely caused can ever lead to good; on the contrary, when an enemy approaches, divided cities are lost at once, for the weaker faction will always side with the invader, and the other will not be able to stand alone.”
“Y es preciso saber que un príncipe, y máxime un príncipe nuevo, no puede observar todo aquello por lo que los hombres son considerados buenos, dado que, para conservar el Estado, a menudo necesita obrar contra la lealtad, contra la caridad, contra la humanidad, contra la religión. Por eso necesita tener un ánimo dispuesto a moverse según se lo exijan los vientos de la fortuna y las variaciones de las cosas y, como he dicho antes, no alejarse del bien, si puede, pero saber entrar en el mal si es necesario. (...) Trate, pues, el príncipe de ganar y conservar el Estado y los medios siempre serán juzgados honorables y alabados por todos, porque el vulgo se deja conquistar por la apariencia y por el resultado final de las cosas, y en el mundo no hay más que vulgo''.”
“Of what does not belong to you or to your subjects you should, therefore, be a lavish giver, as were Cyrus, Cæsar, and Alexander; for to be liberal with the property of others does not take from your reputation, but adds to it. What injures you is to give away what is your own. And there is no quality so self-destructive as liberality; for while you practise it you lose the means whereby it can be practised, and become poor and despised, or else, to avoid poverty, you become rapacious and hated.”
“Moreover, men are less careful how they offend him who makes himself loved than him who makes himself feared. For love is held by the tie of obligation, which, because men are a sorry breed, is broken on every whisper of private interest; but fear is bound by the apprehension of punishment which never relaxes its grasp.”
“Em política (...) não há (...) verdade senão a efetiva. São os efeitos que contam, é a eficácia que exprime o sucesso”
“Por ello las acciones que en un caso pueden poner diques a la fortuna y resultar virtuosas, en el otro pueden fracasar; por ello también el par virtud/fortuna tiene una acepción unipersonal e individual en el primer caso (el recogido en El príncipe) y otra colectiva y republicana en el segundo (el de los Discursos).”
“Quem acredita que entre as grandes personagens os benefícios novos fazem esquecer as injúrias velhas, engana-se”
“Nada é tão débil e instável quanto a fama da potência não assente na própria força”
“and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.”
“For these reasons Louis the Twelfth, King of France, quickly occupied Milan, and as quickly lost it; and to turn him out the first time it only needed Lodovico's own forces; because those who had opened the gates to him, finding themselves deceived in their hopes of future benefit, would not endure the ill-treatment of the new prince.”
“Thus, it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, religious, and upright, and also to be so; but the mind should remain so balanced that were it needful not to be so, you should be able and know how to change to the contrary.”
“Os homens em geral julgam mais pelos olhos que pelas mãos, porque o ver toca a todos, sentir toca a poucos: todos vêem aquilo que tu pareces, poucos sentem aquilo que tu és”
“Every one sees what you seem, but few know what you are, and these few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many who have the majesty of the State to back them up.”
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Martin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his 95 Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
Luther taught that salvation is a free gift of God and received only by grace through faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin, not from good works. His theology challenged the authority of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.
His translation of the Bible into the language of the people (instead of Latin) made it more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation into English of the King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of singing in churches. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant priests to marry.