Jakob böhme quotes

The sweet quality is set opposite to the bitter, and is a gracious, amiable, blessed and pleasant quality, a refreshing of the life, an allaying of the fierceness.

Adam fell when his play became serious business . Since then we are generated out of both worlds, we speak in two languages, and we must be understood also by two languages. — Jakob Bohme

The sour quality is set opposite to the bitter and the sweet, and is a good temper to all, a refreshing and cooling when the bitter and the sweet qualities are too much elevated or too preponderant.

It was a complex, symbolic exploration of God, creation, and the struggle between light and darkness.

Local clergy, particularly Pastor Gregor Richter of Görlitz, accused him of heresy and forced him to stop writing. For this end gather in all thy thoughts, and by faith press into the Centre, laying hold upon the Word of God, which is infallible, and which hath called thee.

He died on November 17, 1624, in Görlitz, at the age of 49.

Historical Milestones & Context

• Reformation Era: Living in post-Reformation Germany, Böhme was influenced by Lutheran thought but diverged into his own mystical path.

• Conflict with Clergy: His writings challenged rigid orthodoxy, making him a controversial figure.

• Spread of His Works: Though censored locally, his manuscripts spread across Europe, influencing early modern philosophy, German Romanticism, and mystical literature.

• Influence on Later Thinkers: Figures such as Hegel, Schelling, Schopenhauer, William Blake, and Russian mystics like Vladimir Solovyov found inspiration in Böhme.

Legacy and Influence

Böhme’s reputation grew significantly after his death.

This will be seen better by all as the Religion unfolds itself. according to nature. His faith is a desire after God and Goodness, which he wrappeth up in a sure hope, trusting to the words of the promise, and liveth and dieth therein; though as to the true man, he never dieth.”

[↩︎]

Jakob Böhme, Dialogues on the Supersensual Life

“The Soul here saith "I have nothing, for I am utterly stripped and naked of every Thing; I can do nothing, for I have no manner of power, but am as water poured out; I am nothing, for all that I am is no more than an Image of Being, and only God is to me I AM; and so, sitting down in my own Nothingness, I give glory to the Eternal Being, and will nothing of myself, that so God may will all in me, being unto me my God and All Things." Herein now it is that so very few find this most precious treasure in the Soul, though every one would so fain have it”

[↩︎]

Jakob Böhme, The Signature of All Things — Chapter VIII(1650s)

“Every Root, as it is in the Earth, may be known by the Signature for what it is food or profitable, even such a Form also has the Earth, and it is discerned in the leaves and Stalks which Planet is Lord in the Property, much more in the Flower; for of what Taste the Herb and Root is, even such an Hunger is in it, and such a Cure lies therein, for it has such a Salt.

Raised in modest circumstances, Jakob received only a basic village education. It is this which breaks forth from the seed, forces itself up through the dark, imprisoning, and yet nourishing and necessary earth, and at last, if it can win its way through obstacles, cheerfully expands in the light of the sun and feeds upon his warmth.”

[↩︎]

Jakob Böhme, Dialogues on the Supersensual Life

“There is in truth but one Religion, that founded upon the eternal, immutable, universal processes of the actual Nature of things, and of this Christianity, rightly apprehended, is the supreme Revelation.

— Jakob Bohme

Just as a drop of water in the ocean cannot avail much; but if a great river runneth into it, that maketh a great commotion. — Jakob Bohme

The will leadeth us to God, or to the devil; it availeth not whether thou hast the name of a Christian; salvation doth not consist therein.

in the Nothing; for the Will of the Liberty overshadows itself with the Essence of the Desire, for the Desire makes Essence and not the Will.”

[↩︎]

Jakob Böhme, The Signature of All Things — Chapter XV(1650s)

“A true Christian is himself the great and anxious Work which continually desires to Work in God's Will, and forces against the self-ful Lusts of Selfhood, and wills continually so to do, and yet is many Times hindered by Self-hood: He breaks Self-hood, as a vessel, wherein he lies captive, and buds forth continually in God's Will-Spirit, with his Desire resigned in God (as a fair Blossom springs out of the Earth) , and Works in and with God, what God pleases.”

[↩︎]

Jakob Böhme, The Signature of All Things — Chapter VIII(1650s)

“He gives in his Power to all his Beings and Works, and each Thing receives his Power according to its Property; one takes Darkness, the other Light; each Hunger desires its Property, and yet the whole Essence [or Being] is all God's, be it Evil or Good, for from him and through him are all Things, what is not of his Love, that is of his Anger.

The Physician must know what Kind of Sickness is risen in the Body, and in what Salt the Loathing is risen in Mercury, that so he may not administer a further Loathing [and Nausea] to his Patient”

[↩︎]

Jakob Böhme, The Signature of All Things — Chapter XV(1650s)

“Whatever God is in himself, that the Creature is also in its Desire in him; a God-Angel, and a God-Man, God all in all, and without him Nothing else.

Though poorly educated in the academic sense, his writings reveal a profound originality and daring imagination. His trade provided him financial stability, but his spiritual visions and mystical experiences would set him on a path far beyond his humble profession.

Youth and Spiritual Awakening

According to accounts, Böhme experienced his first mystical vision in 1600 while gazing at a reflection of sunlight in a pewter dish.

And it is impossible that these [Pg 40] two should stand together, or subsist in one person; the one driving out the other by a necessity of nature. — Jakob Bohme

Open your eyes and the whole world is full of God. — Jakob Bohme

A true Christian, who is born anew of the Spirit of Christ, is in the simplicity of Christ, and hath no strife or contention with any man about religion.

— Jakob Bohme

Whatever the self describes, describes the self. — Jakob Bohme

Therefore it is highly necessary that God's children earnestly pray and learn to know this false structure, and depart from it in spirit, and not help to build it up...

in the Spirit.