Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> Beneath the rule of men entirely great

> The pen is mightier than the sword.



That's easy to write when you're not on the wrong end of a Mongolian bow or a T-34 gun barrel.


The point of the original quote was about people with too much control over others already. In which case, a few strokes of a pen could condemn thousands to misery or death. In that sense, there was no need to be aiming a bow at a single individual.

The original quote wasn't about speech, it was about excessive control.


Wikipedia, at least, doesn't favor your interpretation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pen_is_mightier_than_the_s...

The original quote is about persuasion being better than violence.


Use the pen to design a better sword(missiles, f-35s etc), that's the point, not writing novels and reddit threads with a pen.


Your interpretation doesn't line up with the original quote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pen_is_mightier_than_the_s...

The original quote is about persuasion being better than violence.


Yeah, you need to be powerful enough to persuade, thats the point.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: