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Who will believe us when we say that we do not love these stuffed dummies—carved or painted images—when our deeds convict us? God hates and despises images, as I shall show. He considers them an abomination and says that all human beings are in his eyes as the things they love. Images are an abomination; it follows therefore that we too shall become abominable, if we love them.

— Andreas Karlstadt On the Removal of Images (1522)

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More quotes by Andreas Karlstadt

Beggars are a sure indicator that there are no Christians, or else very few and dispirited ones, in any town in which beggars are seen.

On the Removal of Images (1522)

God desires to indwell in my whole and total heart and cannot in any way tolerate my having an image in my mind's eye.

On the Removal of Images (1522)

How can you save lay persons when you ascribe to images the power which God gave to his word alone?

On the Removal of Images (1522)

The popes ... noted that when they led the little sheep to books, their junk market did not prosper and people wanted to know what is godly or ungodly, right or wrong.

On the Removal of Images (1522)

It cannot therefore be true that images are the textbooks of laypersons. For they are unable to learn their salvation from them. ... How can you save lay persons when you ascribe to images the power which God gave to his word alone?

On the Removal of Images (1522)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Andreas Karlstadt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.