2007-03-01 03:26:56 · 7 answers · asked by A Crock after 25 yrs. 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu:
True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword —
States can be saved without it!
There are several possible predecessors to Bulwer-Lytton who coined a phrase whose concept was already well understood, but he had the luck of boiling everything down to a phrase that would be oft repeated. See link below for more details on predecessors.
God (Hebrews 4:12)
Euripides
Muhammad
Antonio de Guevara
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
William Shakespeare
Robert Burton
Thomas Jefferson
Napoleon Bonaparte
Erasmus
2007-03-01 03:34:12 · answer #1 · answered by Will 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think Edward Bulwer-Lytton said that pen is mightier than the sword in the year 1839.
2007-03-01 03:38:24 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Thomas Paine, in 1776. Bulwer-Lytton is the dude who penned, "It was a dark and stormy night." (Perhaps the worst opening line in the history of storytelling. So bad that there are bad writing awards named after him.)
2007-03-01 04:34:14 · answer #3 · answered by Timothy S 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Edward George Bulwer Lytton.....in 1839.....( he was an English novelist
2007-03-01 03:34:16 · answer #4 · answered by erin_foss8191@sbcglobal.net 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac
2007-03-01 03:34:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
sum gr8 duffer who made such statements 24/7
2007-03-01 03:33:20 · answer #6 · answered by @LpHi!i 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I did! :)
And I still do. ;)
2007-03-01 03:43:31 · answer #7 · answered by S from Dublin 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋