Sword Mightier Than The Pen Speech Hpal

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General Douglas MacArthur, of the pacific theatre in World War II, once said, “Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.”

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When the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword” was first coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy. The line went down in history, and although many know this quote, they do not know the origin.

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Edward Bulwer-Lytton, was, among other things, a politician and a writer. He is known, mainly, for the sword and pen line, and also the well renowned quote of, “It was a dark and stormy night...”, which also went down in history as a mockery of literature.

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Everyone knows that cliched line, and it is used at a frequent rate as a joke. From the writer that brought you “it was a dark and stormy night”, the very punchline of the English language, we now have “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

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To boil it down, the pen is a symbol for the written word and, in a modern sense, war treaties, and the sword is meant to symbolize force and violence. In any sense of the phrase, violence is never the answer - but sometimes, it seems, violence works far better than the written word could ever.

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1939: Germany and the Soviet Union formed a pact for nonaggression, stating that they would be entirely peaceful towards each other in the years to come.

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Only a mere two years later, that pact - that written word - was broken when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

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Another key example of the success of taking things by force and not abiding by the set treaties is through the countless treaties the Americans have signed with the Native Americans.

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The relationship between the two have always been rocky, and many treaties have been made and signed by both parties - either agreeing to end war or agreeing to secede land over to the opposite party.

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The Treaty of 1818, signed by the Chickasaw Indians and the Americans, stated that the Chickasaw were allowed to retain a four square mile reservation after giving most of their land to settlers. Later, all of this land was taken by new, English settlers.

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1868: We have the Treaty of Fort Laramie. This was an agreement between the United States and the Lakota people, signed in 1868 at Fort Laramie, guaranteeing to the Lakota ownership of the Black Hills. Many violations of this treaty happened henceforth, in which migrant workers trespassed into Lakota territory, prospecting for gold. The U.S. government seized the Black Hills land in 1877.

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The counterattacking instances in which violence, in which the sword, won out are far too numerous to name. Countries have been conquered through force, not through a letter informing the country’s offices.

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In my visual aid here behind me, we see two figures fighting - one obviously holding a quill, another holding a sword. In the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword” or vice versa, there is nothing more I can do in a visual aid than give it to you frankly.

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As we all know, the feather symbolizes something faint, something not to be tampered with - much like the pen -, whereas the sword represents violence and is not commonly accepted as being as beautiful as a feather is. However, the pen is much daintier - it is weak. It can’t hold itself up in combat, like in the image. A sword, can however.

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In a literal sense, in no way can you, in a combat zone, defend yourself with your $1,900 Montegrappa Limited Edition Luxury Pen, when the automatic weapons, as MacArthur said, and the swords, as Bulwer-Lytton said, are flying all around you. A pen can’t defend you in a situation like that.

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Amusingly so, in a situation where a pen is better suited than a sword is - like in a treaty-signing seminar - at least the sword could sign the paper by tearing it.

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It may be true that the pen is able to, unlike the sword, call people to the front and gather forces. However, the key word in that statement is the word “force”, which brings us right back to the sword being far mightier than the pen.

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People go back on their word. No matter how blunt-tipped your pen is, there is no possible way for that word to completely settle matters. Whether or not the pen is mightier than the sword, or vice versa, the sword will always be there to enforce what the pen has written; so, it is always needed - the sword is far mightier than the pen.

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To conclude, Paul Rosenberg once said, “The pen is only mightier than the sword when it calls more swords to the battle,” and not a truer thing has ever been said.