Edward Bulwer-Lytton is often credited with the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword”. This quote is simple and profound, giving credence to the fact that ideas have the ability to transcend violence. It is worth noting that the word pen is used in the quote. As in, the idea must be written down. Putting pen to paper and finger to keyboard ascribes a level of permanence, traceability, and transparency to an idea that the mere spoken word cannot.
We love this notion as a society. We teach our children to be literate from a young age; not only to decipher the writing of others, but to also unleash their creativity out into the world. Government archives, public libraries, universities and private collector’s attics are filled with the journal entries of history’s brightest minds. While the armies of bygone civilizations are no more, the ideas by which they lived and died are still with us. This is thanks to the pen, feather, chisel, typewriter, and keyboard. History is lost when written records are absent.
Unfortunately, the quote is more polarizing than many realize. Bulwer-Lytton made a direct comparison, one that was harsh to swords (and pistols, rifles, bows, etc.). One day, I was at work and someone dropped a pen. I picked up the pen and handed it to my boss, a former Army paratrooper. Upon handing over the inky instrument, I cautioned him.
“Be careful” I warned “Some would say that this is mightier than the sword.”
He scoffed at this notion “Whoever said that lied to you, boy. They lied!”
Clearly, my boss disagreed with the quote. He is hardly alone; General Douglas MacArthur is the most well-known dissenting voice to this notion. MacArthur once famously said “Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” This quote is well known among service members and Call of Duty players alike.
In fairness, there’s an air of truth to General MacArthur’s stance. There comes a time in which words fail us and diplomacy has been exhausted; whether it’s on the international stage or in the back-alleys of a seedy part of town. In these situations, forceful and deliberate actions must take center stage. Only a fool thinks that there is never a situation where use of force is justified; that just simply isn’t the world we live in.
With that said, there’s nuance to this. Society cannot live and die on force alone. Neither could the cavemen, Sparta, or the Roman Empire. Societies ultimately need a mix of those who are deft wielders of the sword, and those who are adept at using the pen. The ratio of which is both open for debate and subject to the norms of the culture. And I’m not just waxing poetic here, there are real-world examples of nations who practice both military excellence and exporting philosophy. Example of this include the United States, The UK, France, Russia, Israel, Türkiye, China, and Japan.
However, I’ll even go a step further than that. Functional members of society should become proficient in wielding both a sword and a pen. One very popular fictional universe already depicts a society where this is common. When I said that men owe society physical fitness, I intentionally set aside defensive violence to steelman my case, not out of a naive notion that it was unnecessary. And this is hardly wishful thinking; history is littered with examples of men capable of dual-wielding pens and swords: from Miyamoto Musashi of Samurai-era Japan to Iraq-era Navy SEAL and best-selling author Jocko Willink.
Here’s the thing, we as a society inherently know this to be true; even if we don’t want to say it out loud. There’s a reason why medieval castles had both armories and libraries. We even teach this to our youth; a summer camp trip I took as a Boy Scout taught us how to shoot rifles. Pointedly, this instruction was not to the exclusion or in substitution of the whole host of other planned educational activities. It’s almost like being able to use both pens and swords is important or something…
I have only one caveat to this; to use the pen well is to use the pen to say something unique. Parroting dogmatic talking points is such a waste. We have enough of the Iowa-trained writers infesting New York City literary circles. Ditto for Missouri alumni in our nations newsrooms who sound like damn near everyone else. Give us new thoughts and ideas, even if they are a bit out of left field…
Forget about which is mightier; learn to use both, damn it!
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