I am sure this intriguing quote by Julia Ward Howe could be construed in many different ways. There are surly a handful of people who try to read too much into it. I believe the meaning or reasoning behind this quote is very simple. She is comparing a pen to a sward which have nothing in common but a point, or so we think. In this case they both need something in order to be successful in their job. A pen cannot write itself nor can it think of what to write. The pen needs deliberation behind it. There needs to be purpose in every word written. Then take a sward, in the same way it needs something to do its job. A sward needs to be swift or smooth when slicing through an object. Without that a sward wouldn’t cut through anything. The way I
