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Who really said it

For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time; who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything

Not Martin Luther — actually Johann Eduard Huther Johann Eduard Huther 1807–1880 · German theologian & New Testament commentator
Disputed Free to reuse

The line began as a comment by the 19th-century German theologian J. E. Huther on 2 Timothy. In English it appears in an 1868 Bible commentary that credits it to “Huther.” Later writers swapped one letter and credited it to Luther, and an 1891 quotation dictionary expanded “truth” to “truth and duty.” (Quote Investigator ↗)

Last verified 2 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time; who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything” Not Martin Luther: adapted from the German theologian Johann Eduard Huther, quoted in Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (1868); the "truth and duty" form credited to Luther appears in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891). Via Quotle.info

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Martin Luther. Use the credit shown above instead.

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In context

Evoking the world of Johann Eduard Huther — German theologian, pastor & New Testament commentator. Theme: "For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time; who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

Where the line really comes from

Work
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Lange), Vol. 8 — J. J. Van Oosterzee on the Second Epistle to Timothy, 4:2
Translation
From the German by E. A. Washburn & E. Harwood
Published
1868, Charles Scribner, New York (p. 112, per Quote Investigator)
Credited to
“Huther” (Johann Eduard Huther)

Timothy should fulfil his calling, not indeed when the time was so inopportune that they could receive no benefit, but when to himself it might be inconvenient. “For the truth, it is ever the fitting time; who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything, but will remain in inactivity;” Huther. 1868 · quoting Huther

There is no “and duty” here, and the credit goes to “Huther,” not Luther. Quote Investigator transcribes the verb as “wait”; the Internet Archive scan reads “waits.”

Lange's Commentary, 1868 volume with Van Oosterzee on Timothy (Internet Archive)

How the line moved from Huther to Luther

  • 1868: Van Oosterzee’s commentary on 2 Timothy in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures quotes “For the truth, it is ever the fitting time…” and credits “Huther.” Quote Investigator calls this the earliest English match it found. (scan ↗)
  • 1876: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut’s Lesson Compend for 1877 prints the same sentence and credits it to “LU,” which the book’s table of abbreviations defines as Luther. (Quote Investigator ↗)
  • 1881: Huther’s own commentary in English says it differently: “For the truth, the occasion is always seasonable. He who desires to wait until the occasion seem completely favourable for his work, will never find it.” (T. & T. Clark edition ↗)
  • 1891: Tryon Edwards’s A Dictionary of Thoughts, under “Opportunity” (p. 389), prints the popular form, “For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time…”, signed “Luther.” (scan ↗)
Public domain

Every documented form of this line comes from a 19th-century book published long before 1931: the 1868 English translation in Lange’s Commentary, Huther’s own 1881 English handbook, and the 1891 “truth and duty” wording in Tryon Edwards’s A Dictionary of Thoughts. All three are in the US public domain.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Who gets the credit, and why

The line has been credited to three people. Only one wrote it, and the most famous of them comes from a one-letter mix-up.

Martin Luther Most common

Quote Investigator puts this down to confusing the names “Huther” and “Luther.” The Luther credit appears in Hurlbut’s 1876 lesson book (as “LU”) and in The Spirit of Missions in 1887. Tryon Edwards’s 1891 Dictionary of Thoughts then fixed it in the quotation books, with “and duty” added (1891 scan ↗). No Luther text has been found. (Quote Investigator ↗)

Confucius Stray

Charles R. Hambly’s 1897 dental-practice manual, The Practice Builder, gives the second half of the line as a saying of Confucius. Quote Investigator calls this a surprising credit and finds nothing to support it. (Quote Investigator ↗)

J. J. Van Oosterzee Messenger, not author

The Dutch commentator printed the earliest English version Quote Investigator found, but he quoted it and named “Huther” as its source. (1868 scan ↗)

The thought comes from Johann Eduard Huther, who was commenting on Paul’s charge to Timothy to preach whether or not the moment seems right. The original line had only “truth”; “and duty” and the Luther credit were added later. (Quote Investigator ↗)

Context

Why the mix-up stuck

Huther wrote the sentence as Bible commentary on 2 Timothy 4:2, where Paul tells Timothy to preach the word. Huther read the verse as being about the hearers’ situation, “whether the time seems to thee seasonable or unseasonable for it,” and added that for the truth the occasion is always seasonable (1881 English edition ↗).

Taken out of that technical setting, the sentence reads like a general call to act now, and readers who saw “Huther” easily took it for the far better-known reformer. Once the 1891 Dictionary of Thoughts printed it with “and duty” and a Luther credit, later quotation books copied that version (Quote Investigator ↗).

For the truth, the occasion is always seasonable.

What is still unknown

Quote Investigator believes Huther first wrote the remark in German, but it does not quote the German original, and this page has not located it either. The two English versions (1868 and 1881) are separate translations of the same idea.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Courage Truth Work Time

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: Who Waits Until Circumstances Completely Favor His Undertakingquoteinvestigator.com

The main investigation (2016): traces the line to Huther and finds the Luther credit flawed
Lange's Commentary, volume with Van Oosterzee on Timothy (1868)archive.org

Full scan of the earliest English version found, credited to Huther
Huther, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to Timothy and Titus (1881)archive.org

Huther's own commentary in English, with his wording of the idea
Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891)archive.org

The 'truth and duty' form credited to Luther, under Opportunity, p. 389
Martin Luther on Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Luther's curated quotations page; this line is not on it

The author

About Johann Eduard Huther

Johann Eduard Huther

1807–1880 · German theologian, pastor & New Testament commentator

Johann Eduard Huther was a 19th-century German theologian and pastor at Wittenförden, near Schwerin. He wrote the volume on the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) in Heinrich Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, which T. & T. Clark published in English in 1881. His remark that for the truth “it is ever the fitting time” was quoted in English Bible commentary and then credited to the far more famous Luther.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented (English)

J. J. Van Oosterzee, “The Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy,” trans. E. A. Washburn and E. Harwood, in John Peter Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical, ed. Philip Schaff, vol. 8 (New York: Charles Scribner, 1868), 112, quoting J. E. Huther. The “truth and duty” form credited to Luther: Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (New York: Cassell, 1891), 389.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time; who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/for-truth-and-duty-it-is-ever-the-fitting-time-who-waits/

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