“I answer”, replied Luther, “that God once spoke through the mouth of an ass. I will tell you what I think. I am a Christian theologian and I am bound not only to assert but to defend the truth with my blood and death. I want to believe freely and to be a slave to no one, whether a council, university, or pope. I will confidently confess what appears to me to be true, whether it has been asserted by a Catholic or a heretic, whether it has been approved or reproved by counsel.”
Martin Luther
The Leipzig Debate, 1519