In the Sermon on the Mount, Luther’s Bible warns against doing good works so that others will see them. Matthew 6:3 reads: Wenn du aber Almosen gibst, so lass deine linke Hand nicht wissen, was die rechte tut. When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. The good deed is done in secret. The sentence lives on in everyday German as die linke Hand weiß nicht, was die rechte tut.