Great Throughts Treasury

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."

"Natural law is a practical first principle in the sphere of morality; it forbids evil and commands good. Positive law is a decision that takes circumstances into account and conforms with natural law on credible grounds. The basis of natural law is God, who has created this light, but the basis of positive law is civil authority."

"For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time; who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything."

"The humility of hypocrites is, of all pride, the greatest and most haughty."

"Heavy thoughts bring on physical maladies; when the soul is oppressed, so is the body."

"Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by his faith’. Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressible sweet in greater love."

"To go against one's conscience is neither safe nor right. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise."

"Great Wealth and Content seldom live together."

"God has created man for fellowship, and not for solitariness."

"Music is the art of the prophets, the only art that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us."

"The Church owes its life to the word of promise through faith, and is nourished and preserved by this same word."

"There is no wisdom save in truth. Truth is everlasting, but our ideas about truth are changeable. Only a little of the first fruits of wisdom, only a few fragments of the boundless heights, breadths and depths of truth, have I been able to gather."

"Riches are the pettiest and least worthy gifts which God can give a man. What are they; to God’s word? Yea, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health, or to the gifts of the mind such as understanding, skill, wisdom? Yet men toil for them day and night and take no rest. Therefore our Lord God commonly gives riches to foolish people to whom He gives nothing else."

"War is the greatest plague that can afflict mankind... Any scourge is preferable to it."

"War is one of the greatest plagues that can afflict humanity: it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge, in fact, is preferable to it."

"An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, others serf, some rulers, other subjects."

"If God’s justice could be recognized as just by human comprehension, it would not be divine."

"No one may forsake his neighbor when he is in trouble. Everyone is under obligation to help and support his neighbor as he would himself like to be helped."

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

"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."

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

"Where wealth is, there are also all manner of sins; for through wealth comes pride, through pride dissension, through dissension wars, through wars, poverty, through poverty, great distress and misery. Therefore, they that are rich, must yield a strict and great account; for to whom much is given, of him much will be required."

"Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding"

"Nothing good ever comes of violence."

"Peace if possible, truth at all costs. "

"People must have righteous principals in the first, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions. "

"A faithful and good servant is a real godsend; but truly 'tis a rare bird in the land."

"A man cannot do good before he is made good."

"A man does not live for himself alone in this mortal body to work for it alone, but he lives also for all men on earth; rather, he lives only for others and not for himself. To this end he brings his body into subjection that he may the more sincerely and freely serve others."

"A firm fortress is our God, a good defense and weapon. He frees us from all need that has struck us."

"A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing, our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing."

"A penny saved is better than a penny earned."

"A penny saved is of more value than a penny paid out."

"A preacher should have the skill to teach the unlearned simply roundly, and plainly; for teaching is of more importance than exhorting."

"A prince is venison in heaven."

"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."

"A preacher must be both soldier and shepherd. He must nourish, defend, and teach; he must have teeth in his mouth, and be able to bite and fight."

"A quite novel kind of grammar and logic, according to which what is something is nothing."

"A single little word can strike him dead."

"A wicked tyrant is better than a wicked war."

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

"A woman must be a woman and cannot be a man. She, too, is God's creature and her divine station is that she should bear and care for and rear children. So I am a man created for another office and work. But should I be proud because of this and say: I am not a woman, therefore I am better in the sight of God? Should I not rather praise God for creating both the woman and me also through the woman and putting me in this station? What a un-Christian thing it is that one should despise another because he is in another station or is doing something other than he is doing?... Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. For God will not and cannot tolerate such pride and arrogance."

"Against the flying ball no valor avails."

"Albert Durer, the famous painter, used to say he had no pleasure in pictures that were painted with many colors, but in those which were painted with a choice simplicity. So it is with me as to sermons."

"All which happens in the whole world happens through hope. No husbandman would sow a grain of corn if he did not hope it would spring up and bring forth the ear. How much more are we helped on by hope in the way to eternal life!"

"All heathen books are poisoned through and through with this striving after praise and honor."

"All the cunning of the devil is exercised in trying to tear us away from the word."

"Allegories are fine ornaments and good illustrations, but not proof."

"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."

"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."