"Die Welt ist wie ein betrunkener Bauer. Hebt man ihn auf der einen Seite in den Sattel, so fällt er auf der anderen wieder herunter. Der Welt kann man nicht helfen, was immer man auch anstellt. Sie will des Teufels sein."Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Above, see a quote from Facebook. This makes it slightly questionable as an actual Luther quote, noticing that we do not have an idea where the quote came from. But I would say that it is vintage Luther.
This is my translation:
"The world is like a drunken peasant. If you lift him up one way into the saddle, he falls off on the other side. The world can't be helped, whatever it is you try. It wants to belong to the devil."
Luther did not shy away from trying to improve the world. He did more than any we know. But we realize this predicatment from our own lives--we keep on falling off one way or the other. It is only the Son of God who can redeem. Luther improved the world with the Gospel of Christ.
2 comments:
It's a Table Talk comment: see LW 54:111.
See the primary source here:
http://archive.org/stream/werketischreden10201luthuoft#page/298/mode/2up
See Entry 631. LW 54 wrongly cites it as entry 630 (at least it does so in my digital version, perhaps the actual printing is correct..
You are amazing, James! Thanks.
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