who said the power of the pen is mightier than the sword
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
title: The pen is mightier than the sword text: The pen is mightier than the sword "The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage, coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that communication (particularly written language), or in some interpretations, administrative power or advocacy of an independent press, is a more effective tool than direct violence. The sentence (if not the idea, which had been expressed in various earlier forms) was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play "Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy". The play was about Cardinal Richelieu, though in the author's words "license with dates and details ... has title: The pen is mightier than the sword text: and commonplace". The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, which opened in 1897, has the adage decorating an interior wall. Though 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." Assyrian sage Ahiqar, who reputedly lived during the early 7th century BC, coined the first known version of this phrase. One copy of the Teachings of Ahiqar, dating to about 500 BC, states, "The word is mightier than the sword." title: The pen is mightier than the sword text: caught them, they wrapped the children in their scrolls and lit them on fire. 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"".<ref> The pen is mightier than the sword "The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage, coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that communication (particularly written language), or in some interpretations, administrative power title: The pen is mightier than the sword text: According to the website Trivia-Library.com, the book "The People's Almanac" by Irving Wallace and David Wallechinsky lists several supposed predecessors to Bulwer's phrasing. Their first example comes from the Greek playwright Euripides, who died c. 406 BC. He is supposed to have written: "The tongue is mightier than the blade." If the "People's Almanac" is correct, it should be possible to source this to an extant work by Euripides; however, the quote does appear in the 1935 fictional work "Claudius the God and his Wife Messalina" by Robert Graves, and is thus possibly an anachronism. Several possible precursors do appear title: The pen is mightier than the sword text: in the Old and New Testaments, for example, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose authorship is uncertain, has been translated as: "Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart." An incident in the Babylonian Talmud refers to the Roman troops entering the synagogue classrooms. "And when the enemy entered there, these schoolchildren stabbed them with their pens [behotreihen - a type of sharp stick used with waxed tablets]. And when the enemy prevailed and