The pen is mightier than the sword

Last updated
An illustration of Cardinal Richelieu holding a sword, by H. A. Ogden, 1892, from The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton Cardinal Richelieu by H. A. Ogden.jpg
An illustration of Cardinal Richelieu holding a sword, by H. A. Ogden, 1892, from The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton

"The pen is mightier than the sword" is an expression indicating that the written word is more effective than violence as a means of social or political change. This sentiment has been expressed with metaphorical contrasts of writing implements and weapons for thousands of years. The specific wording that "the pen is mightier than the sword" was first used by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839.

Contents

Under some interpretations, written communication can refer to administrative power or an independent news media.

Origin

The exact sentence was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy . [1] [2] The play was about Cardinal Richelieu, though in the author's words "license with dates and details ... has been, though not unsparingly, indulged". [1] The Cardinal's line in Act II, scene II, was more fully: [3]

True,—This!
Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand!— itself a nothing!—
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars—and to strike
The loud earth breathless!—Take away the sword—

States can be saved without it! [4]

The play opened at London's Covent Garden Theatre on 7 March 1839 with William Charles Macready in the lead role. [5] Macready believed its opening night success was "unequivocal"; Queen Victoria attended a performance on 14 March. [5]

In 1870, literary critic Edward Sherman Gould wrote that Bulwer "had the good fortune to do, what few men can hope to do: he wrote a line that is likely to live for ages". [2] By 1888 another author, Charles Sharp, feared that repeating the phrase "might sound trite and commonplace". [6] The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, which opened in 1897, has the adage decorating an interior wall. [7] [8] Although Bulwer's phrasing was novel, the idea of communication surpassing violence in efficacy had numerous predecessors.

The saying quickly gained currency, says Susan Ratcliffe, associate editor of the Oxford Quotations Dictionaries. "By the 1840s it was a commonplace." [9]

Predecessors

Earliest sources

Assyrian sage Ahiqar, who reputedly lived during the early 7th century BCE, coined the first known version of this phrase. One copy of the Teachings of Ahiqar, dating to about 500 BCE, states, "The word is mightier than the sword." [10]

According to the website Trivia Library, [12] the book The People's Almanac [11] provides another very early example from Greek playwright Euripides, who died c. 406 BCE. He is supposed to have written: "The tongue is mightier than the blade." [12] [a]

Islamic sources

The Islamic prophet Muhammad is quoted, in a saying narrated by 'Abdullah ibn Amr: "There will be a tribulation that will wipe out the Arabs in which those killed on both sides are in the Hellfire. In that time the spoken word will be stronger than the sword". [14]

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, who died in 1602 and was personal scribe and vizier to Akbar the Great, wrote of a gentleman put in charge of a fiefdom having "been promoted from the pen to the sword and taken his place among those who join the sword to the pen, and are masters both of peace and war." [15] [17] Syad Muhammad Latif, in his 1896 history of Agra, quoted King Abdullah of Bokhara (Abdullah-Khan II), who died in 1598, as saying that "He was more afraid of Abu'l-Fazl's pen than of Akbar's sword." [18]

In contrast, Abu Tammam's Ode on the Conquest of Amorium poem intro: "The sword is the truest news [in comparison with] books... In its sharpness, the boundary between seriousness and play". [19]

Early pre-enlightenment sources

In 1529, Antonio de Guevara, in Reloj de príncipes, compared a pen to a lance, books to arms, and a life of studying to a life of war. [20] [21] Thomas North, in 1557, translated Reloj de príncipes into English as Diall of Princes. [21] The analogy would appear in again in 1582, in George Whetstone's An Heptameron of Civil Discourses: "The dashe of a Pen, is more greeuous than the counterbuse of a Launce." [22] [b]

Netizens have suggested that a 1571 edition of Erasmus' Institution of a Christian Prince contains the words "There is no sworde to bee feared more than the Learned pen", [23] [24] but this is not evident from modern translations [25] and this could be merely a spurious quotation.

William Shakespeare in 1600, in his play Hamlet Act 2, scene II, wrote: "... many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills." [12] [26]

Robert Burton, in 1621, in The Anatomy of Melancholy , stated: "It is an old saying, 'A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword': and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever." [27] After listing several historical examples he concludes: "Hinc quam sit calamus saevior ense patet", [27] which translates as "From this it is clear how much more cruel the pen may be than the sword." [12]

Early modern sources

The French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), known to history for his military conquests, also left this oft-quoted remark: "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." He also said: "There are only two powers in the world, sabre and mind; at the end, sabre is always defeated by mind." ("Il n'y a que deux puissances au monde, le sabre et l'esprit : à la longue, le sabre est toujours vaincu par l'esprit.").

Thomas Jefferson, on 19 June 1792, ended a letter to Thomas Paine with: "Go on then in doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword: shew that reformation is more practicable by operating on the mind than on the body of man, and be assured that it has not a more sincere votary nor you a more ardent well-wisher than Y[ou]rs. &c. Thomas Jefferson" [12] [28]

Published in 1830, by Joseph Smith, an account in the Book of Mormon related, "The word had a greater tendency to lead the people to do that which was just; yea, it had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword". [29]

As motto and slogan

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ If The People's Almanac [11] is correct, it should be possible to source the expression to one of the extant works of Euripides. However, because the quote does appear in the 1935 fictional work Claudius the God and his Wife Messalina by Robert Graves, [13] it is possibly an anachronism.
  2. ↑ It appears as a marginal note to the passage: "The Doctor, that had giuen as many déepe woundes with his Pen, as euer he had doone with his Launce, shronke no more at these threates, then an Oke at the Helue of an Are, but coldely wylled him, to vse his pleasure, he was ready to defend (or to die, in) his oppinion."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Bulwer-Lytton</span> British statesman and author (1803–1873)

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton,, was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859, choosing Richard Clement Moody as founder of British Columbia. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Battle of Panipat</span> 1556 battle during the Mughal conquest of the Sur Empire

The Second Battle of Panipat was fought on 5 November 1556, between Akbar and the king of Delhi, Hemu. Hemu had conquered Delhi and Agra a few weeks earlier by defeating Mughal forces under Tardi Beg Khan in the battle of Delhi. He crowned himself Raja Vikramaditya at Purana Quila in Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Macready</span> 19th-century English actor

William Charles Macready was an English stage actor. The son of Irish actor-manager William Macready the Elder he emerged as a leading West End performer during the Regency era.

<i>Vril</i> 1871 novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Vril: The Power of the Coming Race, originally published as The Coming Race, is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lytton, British Columbia</span> Village in British Columbia, Canada

Lytton is a village of about 250 residents in southern British Columbia, Canada, on the east side of the Fraser River and primarily the south side of the Thompson River, where it flows southwesterly into the Fraser. The community includes the Village of Lytton and the surrounding community of the Lytton First Nation, whose name for the place is Camchin, also spelled Kumsheen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemu</span> General, Wazir and King (died 1556)

Hemu was an Indian king (maharaja) who previously served as a general and Wazir of Adil Shah Suri of the Sur Empire during a period in Indian history when the Mughals and Afghans were vying for power across North India. He fought Afghan rebels across North India from Punjab to Bengal and Mughal forces of Humayun and Akbar in Agra and Delhi, winning 22 battles for Adil Shah Suri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helena Faucit</span> English actress (1817–1898)

Helena Saville Faucit, Lady Martin was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abul Fazl</span> Grand vizier of Mughal emperor Akbar from 1579 to 1602

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, also known as Abul Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami, was an Indian writer, historian, and politician who served as the grand vizier of the Mughal Empire from his appointment in 1579, until his death in 1602. His notable works include the Akbarnama, Ain-i-Akbari, and a Persian translation of the Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It was a dark and stormy night</span> Often-mocked story-opening phrase

"It was a dark and stormy night" is an often-mocked and parodied phrase considered to represent "the archetypal example of a florid, melodramatic style of fiction writing", also known as purple prose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Almighty dollar</span> Idiom based on the religiosity of capital and/or money

"Almighty dollar" is an idiom often used to satirize obsession with material wealth, or with capitalism in general. The phrase implies that money is a kind of deity.

Abu al-Faiz ibn Mubarak, popularly known by his pen-name, Faizi was a poet and scholar of late medieval India whose ancestors were the Malik-ush-Shu'ara of Akbar's Court. He was the elder brother of Akbar's historian Abul Fazl. Akbar highly recognised the genius in him and appointed him tutor for his sons and gave place to him among his decorative 'Navaratnas'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton</span> British suffragette (1869–1923)

Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton, usually known as Constance Lytton, was an influential British suffragette activist, writer, speaker and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. She used the name Jane Warton to avoid receiving special treatment when imprisoned for suffragist protests.

<i>Cardinal Richelieu</i> (film) 1935 American historical film directed by Rowland V. Lee

Cardinal Richelieu is a 1935 American historical film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring George Arliss, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward Arnold and Cesar Romero. It was based on the 1839 play Richelieu by Edward Bulwer-Lytton depicting the life of the great seventeenth century French statesman Cardinal Richelieu and his dealings with Louis XIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosina Bulwer-Lytton</span> Anglo-Irish writer (1802–1882)

Rosina Bulwer-Lytton, Baroness Lytton, was an Anglo-Irish writer who published fourteen novels, a volume of essays, and a volume of letters.

<i>Richelieu</i> (play) 1839 historical play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy is an 1839 historical play by the British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It portrays the life of the Seventeenth Century French statesman Cardinal Richelieu. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 7 March 1839. The original cast featured William Macready as Richelieu, Edward William Elton as Louis XIII, James Prescott Warde as Baradas, Frederick Vining as Sieur De Beringhen, Samuel Phelps as Joseph, George John Bennett as Huguet, Henry Howe as Francois and Helena Faucit as Julie De Mortemar.

Bakshi Banu Begum was a Mughal princess and was the second daughter of Emperor Humayun and his consort Gunwar Bibi. Bakshi Banu was thus the older half-sister of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.

<i>The Caxtons</i> Book by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The Caxtons: A Family Picture is an 1849 Victorian novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton that was popular in its time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Leigh Murray</span> English actor

Henry Leigh Murray (1820–1870) was an English actor.

Major Edward Nevil Macready was a British Army officer who served in India and during the Waterloo Campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas James Serle</span> English actor and journalist

Thomas James Serle (1798–1889) was an English dramatist and actor. He was also a journalist with the Weekly Dispatch.

References

  1. 1 2 Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy: A Play in Five Acts (second ed.). London. 1839.
  2. 1 2 Gould, Edward Sherman (1870). Good English. New York: W.J. Widdleton. p. 63.
  3. ↑ Lytton, Lord (1892). The Dramatic Works of Auston. Vol. IX. New York: Peter Fenelon Collier. p. 136.
  4. ↑ Richelieu: or, The conspiracy : A Play, in Five Acts. To Which are added, Historical Odes on The last days of Elizabeth; Cromwell's dream; The death of Nelson by the Author of the "Lady of Lyon", "Eugene Aram" & c. (1 ed.). London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. 1839. p. 39. Retrieved 8 December 2016– via Internet Archive.
  5. 1 2 Macready, William Charles (1875). Sir Frederick Pollock (ed.). Macready's Reminiscences, and Selections from His Diaries and Letters. New York: MacMillan and Co. p. 471.
  6. ↑ Sharp, Charles (1888). The Sovereignty of Art. London: T. Fisher Unwin. p. 67.
  7. ↑ Reynolds, Charles B. (1897). Library of Congress and the Interior Decorations: A Practical Guide for Visitors. New York, Washington, St. Augustine: Foster & Reynolds. p. 15.
  8. ↑ Specifically, the west wall of the entrance pavilion's second floor south corridor
  9. ↑ The Idioms.TheIdioms.com - Online Idioms Dictionary
  10. ↑ Matthews, Victor and Benjamin, Don (2006). Old Testament Parallels (3rd ed.). Paulist Press. p. 304.
  11. 1 2 3 Wallace, Irving; Wallechinsky, David (1981). The People's Almanac. New York, NY: Doubleday.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "About the history and origins behind the famous saying the pen is mightier than the sword". Trivia-Library.com. which cites Wallechinsky & Wallace (1981). [11]
  13. ↑ Graves, Robert (1935). Claudius, the God and His Wife Messalina. H. Smith and R. Haas. p. 122.
  14. ↑ "Source: Musnad Aḥmad 6941, which has been graded Sahih (authentic) according to Ahmad Shakir". 30 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Beveridge, H. (1902). "The Akbarnama Of Abu-l-Fazl". Chapter XLVI. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  16. ↑ Ahmed, Firoz Bakht (1 April 2002). "Writing their own epitaph ..." The Hindu . Archived from the original on 23 October 2002. Retrieved 13 November 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. ↑ A source has Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak in Āīn-e Akbari (the third volume of the Akbarnama ), quoting his master as saying to his calligraphers "Go on doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword" but this is spurious. The source is a newspaper article by Ahmed (2002). [16]
  18. ↑ Latif, Syad Muhammad (2003). Agra Historical & Descriptive with an Account of Akbar and His Court and of the Modern City of Agra, 1896. Asian Educational Services. p. 264. ISBN   81-206-1709-6.
  19. ↑ Arberry, A. J. (1965). Arabic Poetry: A Primer for Students. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. LCCN   65011206.
  20. ↑ In Spanish: "¡Cuánta diferencia vaya de mojar la péñola de la tinta a teñir la lanza en la sangre, y estar rodeados de libros o estar cargados de armas, de estudiar cómo cada uno ha de vivir o andar a saltear en la guerra para a su prójimo matar!"
  21. 1 2 Di Salvo, Angelo J. (1989). "Spanish Guides to Princes and the Political Theories in Don Quijote". The Cervantes Society of America. Retrieved 12 November 2006.
  22. ↑ Whetstone, George (3 February 1582). "Thyrd Daies Exercise". An heptameron of ciuill discourses (2nd ed.). Richard Iones, at the signe of the Rose and the Crowne, neare Holburne Bridge. STC / 25337.
  23. ↑ "Re: Pen vs. sword". www.phrases.org.uk. which cites Titelman, Gregory Y. (1996). Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings. New York: Random House.
  24. ↑ "the pen is mightier ..." Quoteland.com. March 2003. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  25. ↑ Born, Lester K. (1963) [1516]. "Erasmus's Education of a Christian Prince". New York: Octagon Books. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  26. ↑ Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark". opensourceshakespeare.org. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  27. 1 2 Burton, Robert (as Democritus Junior). Hagen, Karl (ed.). "The Anatomy of Melancholy: What it is, with all the kinds, causes, symptoms, prognostics, and several cures of it". Project Gutenberg. Part i, Sect. 2, Memb. 4, Subsect. 4.
  28. ↑ Jefferson, Thomas (19 June 1792). "To Thomas Paine Philadelphia, June 19, 1792". From Revolution to Reconstruction. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  29. ↑ Smith, Jr., Joseph (26 March 1830). "The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi". Palmyra, New York: E. B. Grandin. p. 310.
  30. ↑ Boston (Mass.). City Council (1852). The Railroad Jubilee. An Account of the Celebration Commemorative of the Opening of Railroad Communication Between Boston and Canada. J. E. Eastburn, city printer. p. 139.
  31. ↑ Ensor, Allison R. (1989). "Mightier Than the Sword" An Undetected Obscenity in the First Edition of TOM SAWYER". Vol. 27, no. 1, Spring. Mark Twain Journal. p. 25.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.