Why is the pen mightier than the sword?

[maiko]

What does this phrase mean to you?

My answer: You can kill a person but this means their suffering is over...You can write bad things, trash someone and talk crap about them for a lifetime and cause them to suffer much more! You can make that person into a "fictional" character in a story and torture, kill and do whatever you want to them. In most cases you can't go to jail for this. And everyone who knows the person will know who your character is based on! Your words can also go down in history and be remembered, forever tarnishing the reputation of the person, regardless if what you wrote was true or not!

So, give me some other reasons or examples! The best answer gets 10 points!

 

[mmmmmmmmmmmm10]

With the pen you could stop someone using sword, but with the sword you cannot stop someone using pen.

 

[Tallyt]

ah but actions speak louder than words
i love that counter lol
the flaw with ur answer is that u can make a person suffer with a sword, u dont have to necessarily kill them, u can cut their arm off for example and not kill them but theyll be in complete agony
what it basically comes down to is that the pen creates words and the sword creates action. the words that the pen makes create actions and reactions depending on the context while the sword is pure action. personally i think the term mightier is a matter of opinion on the pen and the sword. its like saying which came first the chicken or the egg?
i still like my counter tho

 

[KalashDave]

"The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.

 

[CheckYoself1]

the sword ends something... the pen can take you anywhere

 

[ConquerorWorm©]

It means that you can do more damage with words than physical actions. But only if the sword is very very small, and the pen is very very sharp.

 

[mEvilmuffinm]

With a pen, you could get a restraining order.