the pen is mightier than the sword

English

Etymology

This phrasing due to Bulwer-Lytton, 1839. The sentiment is traditional, and has many antecedents; see Wikipedia.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Proverb

the pen is mightier than the sword

1. (idiomatic, metonymically) More influence and power can be usurped by writing than by fighting.
   • 1982, Michael Schudson, The Power of News‎^[3], Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 142:

     If the pen is mightier than the sword in American history, it is more likely the pen of a novelist than the typewriter of a reporter — Harriet Beecher Stowe stimulating antislavery sentiment or Upton Sinclair enlisting citizens in outrage against the food-processing industry.

   • 2011, Qazi Nasir Uddin, Ph.D., The Other Side, Author House (→ISBN), page 108:

     If my teachers had not told me that the pen is mightier than the sword, if my parents had not told me that I have to respect books, I would not have developed that respect for knowledge.

Antonyms

• actions speak louder than words

Hyponyms

• the tongue wounds more than a lance

Translations

more power can be usurped by writing than fighting

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: ဓားသွားထက် ကလောင်သွားထက် (dha:swa:htak ka.laungswa:htak)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 文勝於武，筆勝於劍／文胜于武，笔胜于剑 (wén shèng yú wǔ, bǐ shèng yú jiàn)

• Danish: pennen er mægtigere end sværdet
• Esperanto: plumo estas pli potenca ol spado
• Estonian: sõna vägi on suurem kui sõjavägi (literally “the power of a word is greater than the power of the army”)
• Finnish: kynä on miekkaa mahtavampi
• French: la plume est plus forte que l’épée (fr)
• German: die Feder ist mächtiger als die Klinge
• Greek: η γλώσσα κόκαλα δεν έχει μα κόκαλα τσακίζει (i glóssa kókala den échei ma kókala tsakízei)
• Italian: ne uccide più la penna della spada, la penna ferisce più della spada
• Japanese: ペンは剣よりも強し (ja) (ペンはけんよりもつよし, pen wa ken yori mo tsuyoshi)
• Latin: cedant arma togae
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pennen er mektigere enn sverdet

  Nynorsk: pennen er mektigare enn sverdet

• Portuguese: a pena é mais forte que a espada, a pena é mais forte do que a espada
• Russian: что напи́сано перо́м, не вы́рубишь и топоро́м (što napísano peróm, ne výrubišʹ i toporóm, literally “what's written by pen can't be cut by axe”)
• Spanish: la pluma es más poderosa que la espada
• Swedish: pennan är mäktigare än svärdet
• Telugu: కత్తి కన్నా కలం మిన్న (katti kannā kalaṁ minna)
• Thai: ปากกาคมกว่าดาบ (bpàak-gaa-kom-gwàa-dàap)
• Turkish: kalem kılıçtan keskindir (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• the pen is mightier than the sword on Wikipedia.Wikipedia