Who Said It?

These words were written in German or Latin, so every English version is a translation. Wording varies means translations differ or the line is shortened. Traditional wording means the line is famous but not found in a record from the moment itself. Catechism lines follow the 1921 English translation.

1. “Help, Saint Anne! I will become a monk.”
   Martin Luther. Wording varies As Luther told it years later at his dinner table (Table Talk). The storm was in July 1505. A lightning bolt struck near him on the road to Erfurt. Saint Anne was the patron saint of miners, his father's trade. Two weeks later he entered the monastery. Erfurt ›
2. “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”
   Martin Luther. The first of the Ninety-Five Theses, 1517. He opened his list with the big idea. Turning back to God is not a one-time payment. It is the whole Christian life. Wittenberg ›
3. “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
   Johann Tetzel. Traditional wording A rhyme people said about indulgence preaching. We have no record of Tetzel saying these exact words. But Luther's Thesis 27 complains about preachers who taught this very idea, and the rhyme stuck to Tetzel. Wittenberg ›
4. “Arise, O Lord, and judge your own cause. A wild boar from the forest is trying to destroy your vineyard.”
   Pope Leo X. Wording varies Opening of the papal bull Exsurge Domine, June 1520. Shortened. The wild boar was Luther. The bull gave him 60 days to take back his writings. In December he burned a copy of it outside Wittenberg's gate. Wittenberg ›
5. “It is only a quarrel among monks.”
   Pope Leo X. Traditional wording Said to be the pope's first reaction to news of the theses. This saying shows up in later retellings, not in a record from 1517. Whether or not he said it, the quarrel turned out to be much bigger. Wittenberg ›
6. “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”
   Martin Luther. The Freedom of a Christian, 1520. Both are true at once, he said. Faith sets you free from earning God's love. Love then makes you a servant to your neighbor. Wittenberg ›
7. “Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.”
   Martin Luther. Preface to his Latin writings, 1545, looking back on his early years. He had been reading Romans and finally understood that God's righteousness is a gift we receive by faith, not a bar we have to clear. Wittenberg ›
8. “To know Christ is to know his benefits.”
   Philipp Melanchthon. Loci Communes, the first Lutheran handbook of teaching, 1521. Melanchthon meant that knowing Christ is more than knowing facts about him. It means trusting what he does for you. Wittenberg ›
9. “I laid a hen's egg, but Luther hatched a bird of a very different kind.”
   Erasmus of Rotterdam. Wording varies A letter, 1524. People liked to say Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched. Erasmus agreed he had called for reform, but he did not like where Luther took it. Wittenberg ›
10. “I beg you to give me time to think it over.”
    Martin Luther. Wording varies At the Diet of Worms, April 17, 1521, when asked to take back his books. Everyone expected a fiery speech. Instead he asked for one night. He gave his answer the next day. Worms ›
11. “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.”
    Martin Luther. His answer at the Diet of Worms, April 18, 1521. Unless someone could show him from Scripture or clear reason that he was wrong, he said, he could not take anything back. Worms ›
12. “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
    Martin Luther. Traditional wording End of his answer at Worms, April 18, 1521. 'God help me. Amen.' is in the record of that day. 'Here I stand, I can do no other' first appears in a printed version soon after. It may be what he said, or how people remembered it. Worms ›
13. “A single monk who stands against a thousand years of Christians must be wrong.”
    Emperor Charles V. Wording varies The emperor's written answer, April 19, 1521. Shortened. The young emperor wrote it out in his own hand the morning after Luther spoke. A month later Luther was declared an outlaw. Worms ›
14. “From my Patmos.”
    Martin Luther. How he dated some of his letters from the Wartburg, 1521. Patmos is the island where John wrote the book of Revelation in exile. Hidden in the castle, Luther felt like an exile too, and he used the time to translate the New Testament. Wartburg ›
15. “Ask the mother in the home, the children in the street, the common man in the marketplace.”
    Martin Luther. Wording varies Open Letter on Translating, 1530. He wanted his German Bible to sound the way real people talked, so he listened to them. That is why his translation lasted. Wartburg ›
16. “I would not trade my Katie for France and Venice.”
    Martin Luther. Wording varies Table Talk, the notes his students took at dinner. He married late and never expected to. Over the years he came to trust Katharina with the money, the farm, the guests, and his health. Katharina's House ›
17. “Who would not be sad over so precious a man as my dear lord was?”
    Katharina von Bora. Wording varies A letter to her sister-in-law, spring 1546, after Luther died. Only a few of her letters survive. This one shows her grief, and her worry about how she and the children would live. Katharina's House ›
18. “I will stick to Christ like a burr to a coat.”
    Katharina von Bora. Traditional wording Said to be among her last words, 1552. She died after a wagon accident while fleeing the plague. The words come from later tradition, but they fit what friends said of her faith. Katharina's House ›
19. “Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.”
    Martin Luther. Preface to a collection of songs, 1538. He played the lute, wrote hymns, and wanted whole congregations singing, not just a choir. Coburg ›
20. “The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.”
    Philipp Melanchthon. The Augsburg Confession, Article 7, 1530. Melanchthon wrote it. The Lutheran princes signed it, and it was read aloud to the emperor. Luther, an outlaw, followed along by letter from Coburg. Augsburg ›
21. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”
    Martin Luther. The Small Catechism, the First Commandment, 1529. Every one of his explanations of the commandments starts here. If you trust God above all things, the rest follows. The Catechism ›
22. “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.”
    Martin Luther. The Small Catechism, the Third Article of the Creed, 1529. Even believing is a gift. He goes on to say the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, and keeps the whole church. The Catechism ›
23. “God would thereby tenderly invite us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children.”
    Martin Luther. The Small Catechism, the Lord's Prayer, 1529. This is his explanation of the first words, 'Our Father.' We can ask boldly, like children asking a loving parent. The Catechism ›
24. “Here you will find the swaddling clothes and the manger in which Christ lies.”
    Martin Luther. Wording varies Preface to the Old Testament, 1523. He meant that even the Old Testament points to Jesus. The Bible is like the manger: plain on the outside, holding the best gift inside. Bible Stories ›
25. “We are beggars. This is true.”
    Martin Luther. The last words he wrote, on a slip of paper found after he died, February 1546. He died in Eisleben, the town where he was born. After all his books, his last note says we come to God with empty hands. Eisleben ›