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The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword Quote Analysis

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“Before all else, be armed.” Thus wrote the ruthless Florentine politician-philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, a man famed for his unflinching pragmatism and grasp of the darker truths of life. While a master of the written word, he also understood the brutal might of physical weaponry. The irony of Machiavelli’s influential assertion is that it proved the power of the written word even while arguing for the supreme might of military capabilities. For the purposes of this essay, I shall interpret “the pen” to refer to the written word and “the sword” to denote military power – in accordance with what I consider to be the spirit of the original quote “The pen is mightier than the sword”. While military armaments grow ever more devastating with the march of technology, I believe the quote remains timelessly true: the written word is, and always will be, more powerful than any force of arms. Sceptics will argue that military muscle – whether in the form of swords, guns or fighter planes – can allow any authoritarian or totalitarian leader to dominate the masses and intimidate them into submission. Those who speak the language of violence may scoff at the power of the pen (or its modern-day equivalent, the touchscreen keyboard) in comparison, and the seemingly frail and intangible words …show more content…

Ultimately, humanity’s greatest gift is the intellect, which can only be grown and nourished by the written word and the knowledge therein. Brute force without the buttresses of intellect is always proven to be a short-lived, grasping and superficial power, one that will be sooner or later be exposed and vanquished by a superior mind. In any case, civilised human beings should turn to military force only as a last resort. For it is a truth just as timeless that those who live by the sword, will die by

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