“I think these things [firearms] were invented by Satan himself, for they can’t be defended against with (ordinary) weapons and fists. All human strength vanishes when confronted with firearms. A man is dead before he sees what’s coming.”

— Martin Luther, book Table Talk

3552
Table Talk (1569)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 6, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I think these things [firearms] were invented by Satan himself, for they can’t be defended against with (ordinary) weap…" by Martin Luther?

Martin Luther photo

Martin Luther214

seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483–1546

Related quotes

“If a firearm is used by a criminal or psychopath with evil intentions, then it is a tool for evil. But if it is used for good (to defend life and property), then it is a tool for good. A firearm by itself has no sentience, no volition, no moral force, and no politics. The proper term for this is an adiaphorous object--something that is neither good nor evil. A firearm is simply a cleverly-designed construction of metal, wood, and plastic in the form of a precision tool.”

James Wesley Rawles (1960) Survivalist-fiction author and blogger

Source: Tools For Survival (2009), p. 150

“As the era of the sword was ending, that of firearms began, in time to allow no lapse in man’s belligerent capacity.”

Barbara W. Tuchman book A Distant Mirror

Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 585

“Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA — ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State.”

Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) Nazi officer, Commander of the SS

This quotation has not been confirmed to come from Himmler, its attribution to him on the Internet coming from some point before 2000, as in the Site of the Sentient quotelist http://web.archive.org/web/20000823073240/http://www.siteofthesentient.com/alltags.html <br class="br">Disputed

“Strangely, he wasn’t scared at all. He was even more coldly calm, calmly analytical. And he knew that he would have to be if he was to stand a chance to win this war. If he was to win it, his mind would have to be his major weapon; firearms might win a battle, but never the war.”

Fredric Brown book The Mind Thing

Source: The Mind Thing (1961), Chapter 18 (p. 555)

“The ordinary man puts up a struggle against all that is not himself, whereas it is against himself, in a limited but all-essential field, that the artist has to battle.”

André Malraux (1901–1976) French novelist, art theorist and politician

Part III, Chapter III
Les voix du silence [Voices of Silence] (1951)

“I think if you were Satan and you were settin around tryin to think up somethin that would just bring the human race to its knees what you would probably come up with is narcotics.”

Cormac McCarthy book No Country for Old Men

Source: No Country for Old Men

“That a man be willing, when others are so too, as farre-forth, as for Peace, and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against himself.”

Thomas Hobbes book Leviathan

The First Part, Chapter 14, p. 64-65
Leviathan (1651)

“The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing practical to alter or deflect the impulse to destroy the enemy, which is central to the very idea of war.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

On War (1832), Book 1

“Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
We don't see what they're made of
They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
They live for the things they're afraid of

And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them…
- The Weapon (Part II of 'Fear') (1982)”

Neil Peart (1952–2020) Canadian-American drummer , lyricist, and author

Rush Lyrics

“When a man begins to know himself a little he will see in himself many things that are bound to horrify him. So long as a man is not horrified at himself he knows nothing about himself.”

P. D. Ouspensky book In Search of the Miraculous

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Related topics