by 
KevinW42
ANSWERS: 100
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Hmmm...I'm not sure your analogy serves, as neither a pen nor a sword is an action or word. Both are objects - nouns. The act of writing is an action, it is expressing an idea. A sword can harm bodies, but the written word can change hearts and minds.
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The written word is a powerful thing. Sometimes, spoken words disappear in the air as if they were vapor. The written word can stand out as a bold witness years later. Ready to speak again when the reader comes across it. By spoken word, civilizations have passed down their legends and thus stayed alive for centuries. The civilizations that we know best though are the ones that have had their story written down and preserved for us.
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A sword can only kill one person at a time and tends not to be very persuasive in the long run. A pen can tell many people with many swords to kill many people, or turn many citizens against their rulers.
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The phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword" can have many meanings. I like to take the example of the Declaration of Independance. Americans fought long and hard for their freedom with guns and swords. But the mightiest act of all came when a group of men got together and wrote the Declaration of Independance. In this document, America's forefathers were making a strong statement against England. With that declaration, they declared their intent to be a freed from the crown. That document did much to attain freedom for New England. Because of that document, America is a free country. The hearts and souls of those under the rule of the British crown were poured out with that pen. And thus America was born, not because of the might of the sword (or gun), but because what was poured out onto that parchment with that pen was the might, strength, and desires of a people fighting to be free.
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Obviously none of you hae been stabbed with a pen! Small, precise, fits between your ribs. Let's just say I would have rather had a clean sword slice than the jagged pen stabbing I got.
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"actions are stronger than words" means that it means more to do something than to say you will do it. "the pen is mightier than the sword" means that writing (the bible for exaple) can change the world more than using force.
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Actions when timed correctly, can turn the tide of revolution or war. Take Hitler and Napoleon and their invasions into Russia. Had they timed it better both may have had success with dire consequences. The pen on the other hand symbolizes an idea or concept whose time has come. Thats why poets, writers, and other intellectuals are murdered during revolutions and times of civil unrest. Its also why books and documents are burned or censored. Ideas created by the pen can be very detrimental to a dictator or anyone who struggles to control great masses of people through fear and intimidation.
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THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD? Here, we are offered the insight that words are superior to action, even deady killers, like swords. Meet Martin Luther's printed words that changed history, and all the king's men were useless. so yea u get my point?
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Part of the problem here is that your creating a false analogy. in certain cases both of these statements are true, take for instance politicians (dont read too deeply into this one) they may speak alot on a certain issue but until they act their words are useless. now take for instance a situation posed by many of the above commentors, the written word insiting rebellion or opening the worlds eyes to evils done.
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God knows!
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Words can change the way people think and even change their hearts. Swords and other weapons can only restrain, intimidate, and control while they are being brandished. Words can effect permanent change; swords are temporary "fixes" at best.
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The sentence: "ACTIONS ARE STRONGER THAN WORDS" is self-explanetary. Words! Words!.Words! Stop chattering, and DO something!! That's the end of that subject. Now,"THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD" is a different concept and has no connection with the above. Several answers have already explained it.
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Because people like to think that words can't hurt you but they can for some people.
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Because although what you do says more about you than what you say, a pen can gouge someone's eye out, while you'd have to try really hard to do that with a sword. Yeah, and the written word affects people a lot more than any sword ever could.
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Because people tend to put more thought behind a pen. Also, people seem to have a harder time of lying through actions
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Because you can harm one person at a time with a sword, but words (printed, spoken, radio, TV, internet) can reach many many people at once and influence them to help change the couse of things.
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Actions strongly influence those who witness them. Words live forever and therefore are able to affect multitudes for a millennia.
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Actions are stronger than words, but words are more insidious. And while it takes years of training to be any good with a sword, and years of trainging to be really good with a pen, what the pen writes can be picked up and used by anyone, even someone with no training at all for years or even centuries after the author has turned to dust. Especially if someone makes copies...
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thats so because the sword kills and the pen does not.you can express your feelings like anger,happiness,sadness,etc.if u feel anger,you can just write it down with a pen instead of killing someone or yourself with a sword.
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Because you can write a huge cheque to hire a Hitman and still enjoy your lunch.
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maybe you stab them with the pen....ever seen 'Grosse pointe blank'?
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because the pen gives word to send the swords to war.
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Because it can be smuggled through a metal detector and used to stab someone, whereas a sword would be discovered. :)
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You can kill and write with a pen but you cant write with the sword ;)
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Because you can stab someone in the neck without having to flail a sword around
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You use this proverb to say that you can solve problems or achieve your purpose better and more effectively through communication with words than by violence with weapons.
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In addition to Everest's excellent answer, if you think about what you have achieved in your life. Education, qualifications, a job, marriage, the ability to drive, penpals, even those people you send CHirstamd cards to but never manage to meet up with. How much of that could you accomplish with a sword rather than a pen?
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Today's the perfect day to ask that question. If, instead of giving speeches, MLK tried to violently confront the government, how effective do you think he would have been? The sword is a temporary item. It is the servant of an idea. The pen creates permanence. It helps to create ideas.
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For me- I would be able to go back time after time and reread - And the sword it happen's and then it's done !
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The sword creates the opportunity for those to use the pen...
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Because with the sword (gun) you can force your will upon people, but with the written word you can change their mind or enlighten them and thus enlist their willing cooperation.
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Calm words can tame an angry temper.
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Becuase you can 'surposedly' win a fight verbally as oppose to fist-fighting. Well.. i dunno if it works, so i wouldnt try if i were you
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Absolutely!!!!! Just look at the power of the media - it is used as a weapon by those in power!
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The pen has endless power. There is no limit to the the things it can do. It can break a heart, profess love for another, start a war, end a war etc. The sword has only one power.
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Because the pen has the ability to record your thoughts and ideas on paper for many people to read. The sword ends someones life and doesnt help the cause.
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Because it is the writers who have the power to take down civilzations, to create chaos, to start revolutions. They act as a catalyst.
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Good question...But very true.
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Pens can over-throw corrupt governments and illuminate the long-hidden truths held out of the reach of the masses. While a sword can just kill the cold mortal shell of the human form.
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I dont think it is. I think stick and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
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because the action of twisting a sword into words can only be performed by a pen (or a keyboard!)
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Because a pen signs a law to tear a building down. Then actions rip it to the ground.
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If you consider it literally, a pen can be used to sign contracts, such as peace treaties. The laws are written, not told. In terms of actions, yes sending a nuke over to Iraq would have more effect than a written document. But this, in terms of international peace, is not recommendable.
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Has anyone considered action are needed to use both!
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Perhaps for the same reason as the tongue is mightier than the blade? I suppose the concept is that violence is not the best way to solve problems- that we have language and should use it to solve our problems. The 'actions are stronger than words' saying, I suppose originates from a different concept, probably reliability. If you promise something (words) you have to follow up on your words (action) or else, what you say is not reliable. My 2 cents worth.
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becuz it all depends on the person and whether they are courageous!
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I think actions speak louder than words and the tounge is sharper than a double edge blade. thats all I heard.
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Because "sword" is an anagram of "words", which are only so much hot air compared to the might of "enp", which is Hindi for "Now you are dead". Also, it is an anagram of "pen". Also, "The penis: mightier than the sowrd".
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The action of writing is stronger than the action of hurting. The written word can say a lot and a sword just says "I want to hurt you!" Actions are stronger than words in social situations.
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because words annoying
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the pens actions can do more than what a sword can do. A pen can command the sword to anything just by the movement of it on a piece of paper. A pen is the action of controlling the sword and a pen is permanant and the swords words may hurt but they may go away over time and the sword cannot do nearly do as much as the pen could do
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It would hurt a lot more to get shanked with a pen and it would inject ink into your body. People can get healed from a sword but you're permanently poisoned from a pen stab. Also, you could blind somebody by releasing all the ink from a fountain pen into some person's eye. And, writing is an action. Also, if actions are stronger, one could argue that a word is strong, which means that a pen is strong and stronger at the same time which could mean it's the strongest? Also, swords can get rusty and you cant buy replacement blades, you gotta get a new sword. If you run out of ink with a pen, you can buy a replacement ink thingy. That is why the pen is mightier than the sword.
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Because the pen can communicate ideas that can transform the rulers and/or the people that support the army that brandishes the sword.
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with a pen you can change many lives. with a sword you can only end them.
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Because thw ritten word can reach the entire world. The sword but a few.
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After that lady stabbed a would be rapist in the neck with one you need to ask? GO GRAMBO!!
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wow! that's pretty deep and a rather good point. but, to answer your question I would have to say...........................?????????????????????!
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An action, especially a particularly cruel or bad action will probably be remembered by a few people, but by many it will not. An action is something that (unless you are being video-taped) cannot be repeated. When it is done, it is done. Written words though can and have remained with the human race long after the author has expired. Think of how many books there are in the world, and compare that to how many video tapes.
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Perhaps it's not. A pen makes an unlikely weapon or shovel. It's only practical use is writing and if you think about it, what you write can only be read by very few people: i) Those that have an opportunity to read it; ii) Those who can read; iii) Those that can read the language that it's written in; and iv) Those that can read your hand writing. what is being read for the most part is useless (this commentary is proof). No I think that the sword is mighter.
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Very deep question! If we were gonna turn this into a sort of rock, paper, scissors, I'd take the "A picture is worth a thousand words!" to block. Many here have made GOOD points, Action IS important, but a formal declaration of war can kill many more than a single sword. But proof of an atrocity(in a picture) can move many to action faster than someone telling about it in writing.
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Ever heard the expression "brains and brawn"? The brawn is stronger than brains, but the brains tell the brawn what to do. The pen is mightier because it writes words. Those words stimulate others to action, and those others wield their swords. One pen writing a few words yields many active swords. If the words are never read, no one takes action, and the words lack their strength.
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that too,is in the Torah.
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Because words are louder than the pen!
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Because words can spur on actions.
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You can stab someone with a pen or a sword....
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I think we should not try here to explain how the pen is mightier than the sword or something. The point of the question is the contradiction of the two expressions: the pen = words actions = the sword Now which one is mightier than the other? I think that when we answer this question, we should take into account the interesting discussion given here: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/360267
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well actions not as killing someone why whoudl you do that its bad no one would make that a qoute but actions as doing something and not just saying what your going to do or telling someone to do something and a pen is writing something down words are saying something of coures not all the time but in these quotes it is true
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Because you can stick it to a lot of people at once with a pen. With a sword it's one at a time.
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Because a word cannot exist without an action - therefore action is required in order for words to exist. Whether spoken or written. Since a pen is a tool of action required to create the written word. A sword is only good for destroying the communication process (metaphysically), but you can showcase your swords to stimulate conversation or draw words in the sand. But since these are actions, it still holds true. TM
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Swords are sharp which means they hurt less when you stab someone, pens are blunt and hurt loads when you stab, especially if you get a pressure point.
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I don't think that actions are always stronger than words... For instance if my girlfriend were to beat me up with a big stick... sure it would hurt... I'd heal pretty quick... But if she were to say some really nasty things like "I never loved you, blah blah blah".... that would take a long time to get over... However the pen is definitely mightier than the sword.
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Becasue when you use a pen you can stab them in the eye and then spurt ink into it. With a sword its a one time deal, you stab them and then its over.
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I only looked at the first page of answers, but people seem to be missing the point of the first saying. The two sayings do not share a context. Actions are stronger than words means that people will look at what you do, not at what you say- That my mother telling me(words) not to drive fast is ineffective because she drives like a loon(actions). It's just "you can't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk." Pen is mightier than the sword is about battling your opponents, you can do more widespread damage with the spread of information.
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Violence is a natural impulse in all humans (a reason why history repeats itsself, nature). It's easy to use violence. Things are here because of your mind, that's why the "pen" is "mightier", at least that's what I think. Actions are stronger than words when no one is doing anything. You need both. Don't just say what's over-said and over-used because everyone has already done it. Things got here in the first place because of curiosity and imagination and thinking, do your own thinking. Livia
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with a sword you can kill only a person at a time. with a pen you can make people commit suicide or murder.
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You are able to attack in a much more stealth and dextrous manner when you shove the pen straight through someone's eye and into their brain. It takes much longer to cleave someone up, or at least more effort.
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"...Only if the sword is very small and the pen very sharp."
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The saying is 'the pen is mightier than the sword' a sword can cut and kill you, but a pen with words can lay your soul bare.
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I don't know, but if the pen is mightier than the sword, and a picture is worth a thousand words. Is a picture mightier than a thousand words? Philosophize that Kevin.
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When you have something in writing, it is more powerful because one can read it over and over. This repetition of whatever the message may be makes it more powerful. Another reason is that by having it in writing, it becomes a document and a part of history, which cannot be changed by others as they come along.
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the sword is a reference to the words of the mouth. i can talk all day long and may not get anywhere with you because you may only hear parts of what i say, whereas if you are reading something, usually you are atunned to it more fully with no interruptions. when i try to talk some sense into you, you are usually argueing back at me and not much is getting through to you because you are preoccupied with defending yourself, whereas when you read it there is noone to defend yourself agaist till all has been taken in, also you will have more time to contemplate on what you read than you would if the other party was there and were to more on to the next subject
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Jocks win half of the time. Nerds also win half of the time. In high school. A sword is useless past the age of 18. Words are the currency of a information economy. A choice between Intelligence or Brawn? I'll take Intelligence. In a world where the cup must either be half-empty or half-full, a sinewy mind will always prevail. A perceived lack is only temporary for those with imagination.
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The action of signing a contract is indeed stronger than a verbal promise. A contract that is "then" enforced with the sword.
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i want to think that the statement is a bit of contradiction.... coz a pen could be a metaphor for words... and sword is for actions... in the first statement action is > than words in the second words is > than action... bu if i am wrong i would say that what he meant by sword is not really action but violence... wahh.. i dont know! nice question though!
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You're misquoting the first proverb. The right version reads: "Actions SPEAK LOUDER than words." Its point is that a man's loyalty, devotion, and intentions are proved by what he does, not what he says. Jefferson's claim, however, is about something entirely different. Arguably, Sun Tzu said it better -- as well as first -- "All wars are won in the temples before they are fought on the battlefield."
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at first i find the statement a bit contradiction... but they both really have no relevance between each other.. first,=action is stronger than words means that it is more convincing to act the words you speak rather that just saying it.. in the pen mightier than the sword, it could covert many people more... and it is using what you know in a non-violence way...
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i honestly don't see the contradiction in these two metaphors... This is the way I see it.... actions are truly stronger than words when you are expressing a particular emotion... To kill somebody expresses exactly how evil, angry or desperate a person is more than if he actually just described it.... That goes with declaring war... when a country goes into war the anger or desire to conquer becomes more apparent than if it were just said.... But then though actions are stronger, the pen is mightier because it can effect change or get the job done without the need to destroy...
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the pen can cause action far further and for more time than a sword will ever be able to
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because the pen can create art.
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Actions when timed correctly can turn the tide of revolution or war. Take Hitler and Napoleon and their invasions into Russia. Had they timed it better both may have had success with dire consequences. The pen on the other hand symbolizes an idea or concept whose time has come. That’s why poets, writers, and other intellectuals are murdered during revolutions and times of civil unrest. Its also why books and documents are burned or censored. Ideas created by the pen can be very detrimental to a dictator or anyone who struggles to control great masses of people through fear and intimidation. Action can bring life to words such as “I love you” means nothing unless you prove it, a kiss a rose, some spontaneous type of action. The pen can manipulate others using propaganda, laws etc. A sword can place fear in your eyes but it can’t control you. The sword can do nothing if you don’t know how to use it .TRY TO WORK A APPARATUS without the manual. To understand something you must know what it is.
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I love how you've taken two utterly different, yet overly used, philosophical phrases, put them together, and completely screwed over others' perceptions. Now I'm going to enjoy reading others attempts to specify exactly what is meant.
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It's not.
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The swiping of a pen is an action.
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The pen is mightier than the sword when it flows with wisdom, reason and peace bringing unity. The sword cuts down foes, sinners and wrongdoers. The pen clarifies falsehoods, pours forth insight and intelligence and enlightens man thereby. In this instance the pen is indeed mightier than the sword in that it allows for redemption. Fear of the sword also cures aggressors too. Words are formidably potent when fuelled with fortitude toward a noble cause.
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In reference to saying "I Love You" and showing by actions that you love someone is obviously stronger of the two. To kill or injury someone with a sword is lesser of the two than to read the words of what happened over and over again because it was written for all to see. More people believe what they read than what they see.
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Great question, but they are just sayings. Metphorical sayings, mind you. Oh, and 'actions SPEAK louder than words'. Say for instance you stuck your middle finger up at someone. It's gonna be more offensive than writing down 'I stick my middle minger up at you'. The pen is mightier than the sword because peoples names are written into history, there is no other way to record actions. Hence, the interpretation of the person with the pen has more of an impact on future generations' thoughts on the individual who swung the sword, compared to the reasons behind why the person with the sword swung it.
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They see you with that big ass flamberge. They dont see you with that pen you got hidden up your sleeve. Just a joke.
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Actions speak louder than words is applicable in circumstances wherein many speak of loyalty, belief and honour, but at the earliest instance of a change in fortune or situation people tend to change their opinions, outlook and allegiance. This renders words as merely superficial and vacuous and implicates action and deed as the greater indicator of a person’s conviction or mettle than what is actually spoken. The pen or the sword is as potent or as forceful as he who wields them. A pen daubed in blood, flowing with vitriolic write upon papyrus s of little cause or consequence. A pen flowing with kindness and love, write with the wisdom and peace upon marble and stone is far greater than any sword wielded by the angered and unleashed upon a vulnerable. The might of the pen or sword is entirely dependent upon he who wields it.
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Actions speak louder than words is applicable in circumstances wherein many speak of loyalty, belief and honour, but at the earliest instance of a change in fortune or situation people tend to change their opinions, outlook and allegiance. This renders words as merely superficial and vacuous and implicates action and deed as the greater indicator of a person’s conviction or mettle than what is actually spoken. The pen or the sword is as potent or as forceful as he who wields them. A pen daubed in blood, flowing with vitriolic write upon papyrus s of little cause or consequence. A pen flowing with kindness and love, write with the wisdom and peace upon marble and stone is far greater than any sword wielded by the angered and unleashed upon a vulnerable. The might of the pen or sword is entirely dependent upon he who wields it.
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perception...this question deserves every point that can be awarded!
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