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Martin Luther
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Science Quotes by Martin Luther (8 quotes)
~~[No known source]~~ Medicine makes people ill, mathematics make them sad and theology makes them sinful.
— Martin Luther
Webmaster strongly doubts that this is an authentic quote. As yet, Webmaster has found no primary source, no citation, and not even an early publication with this quote. Best guess is that it is a recent viral fake or mistake. Can you help? Meanwhile, Webmaster includes this quote here only to add this caution. At best, likely, it is barely a joke, by anonymous.
A man would have to be an idiot to write a book of laws for an apple tree telling it to bear apples and not thorns, seeing that the apple-tree will do it naturally and far better than any laws or teaching can prescribe.
— Martin Luther
On Secular Authority (1523). In Harro Höpfl (ed.), Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority (1991), 9.
Astrology is framed by the devil, to the end people may be scared from entering into the state of matrimony, and from every divine and human office and calling.
— Martin Luther
W. Hazlitt (trans. and ed.) The Table Talk of Martin Luther, (1857), 343.
Astronomy is the most ancient of all the sciences, and has been the introducer of vast knowledge.
— Martin Luther
In W. Hazlitt (trans.), 'Of Astronomy and Astrology', The Table Talk or Familiar Discourse of Martin Luther (1848), 341.
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
— Martin Luther
Attributed (?). Webmaster doubts authenticity and includes it only to provide this caution. Webmaster has thus far found no primary source. The quote is found only in relatively modern books - the absence in early books suggests it was not said by Martin Luther. See for example, Forbes: Vol. 122, Issues 7-13 (1978), 158. Also widely found attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr., but never with citation. If you know a primary source, please contact Webmaster. Compare with quote by Nelson Henderson.
People give ear to an upstart astrologer [Copernicus] who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy.
— Martin Luther
c. 1543, in The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky (1998).
The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them of clay.
— Martin Luther
Martin Luther and William Hazlitt (trans.), Alexander Chalmers, The Table Talk of Martin Luther (1872), 307.
The science of alchemy I like very well. I like it not only for the profits it brings in melting metals, in decocting, preparing, extracting, and distilling herbs, roots; I like it also for the sake of the allegory and secret signification, which is exceedingly fine, touching the resurrection of the dead at the last day.
— Martin Luther
In The Table Talk (1569).
Quotes by others about Martin Luther (1)
At the bidding of a Peter the Hermit many millions of men swarmed to the East; the words of an hallucinated person … have created the force necessary to triumph over the Graeco-Roman world; an obscure monk like Luther set Europe ablaze and bathed in blood. The voice of a Galileo or a Newton will never have the least echo among the masses. The inventors of genius transform a civilization. The fanatics and the hallucinated create history.
From Les Premières Civilisations (1889), 171. English in The Psychology of Peoples (1898), Book 1, Chap. 1, 204, tweaked by Webmaster. Original French text: “A la voix d'un Pierre l'Ermite, plusieurs millions d'hommes se sont précipités sur l'Orient; les paroles d'un halluciné … ont créé la force nécessaire pour triompher du vieux monde gréco-romain; un moine obscur, comme Luther, a mis l'Europe à feu et à sang. Ce n’est pas parmi les foules que la voix d’un Galilée ou d’un Newton aura jamais le plus faible écho. Les inventeurs de génie transforment une civilisation. Les fanatiques et les hallucinés créent l’histoire.”
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
