“He who enlists a man's mind wields a power even greater than the sword or the scepter.”
Source: The Worldly Philosophers (1953), Chapter I, Introduction, p. 3
“Some men are born to feast, and not to fight;
Whose sluggish minds, e'en in fair honor's field,
Still on their dinner turn—
Let such pot-boiling varlets stay at home,
And wield a flesh-hook rather than a sword.”
Act I, scene 1.
Count Basil (1798)
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Do you have more details about the quote "Some men are born to feast, and not to fight;
Whose sluggish minds, e'en in fair honor's field,
Still on their dinner…" by Joanna Baillie?
Joanna Baillie 10
Scottish poet and dramatist 1762–1851Related quotes
Source: The Jewels of Aptor (1962), Chapter X (p. 133)
Context: A lesson which history should have taught us thousands of years ago was finally driven home. No man can wield absolute power over other men and still retain his own mind. For no matter how good his intentions are when he takes up the power, his alternate reason is that freedom, the freedom of other people and ultimately his own, terrifies him. Only a man afraid of freedom would want this power, who could conceive of wielding it. And that fear of freedom will turn him into a slave of this power.
Miyamoto Musashi
(1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist
Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Water Book
Context: Knowing the Way of the long sword means we can wield with two fingers the sword that we usually carry. If we know the path of the sword well, we can wield it easily.
If you try to wield the long sword quickly you will mistake the Way. To wield the long sword well you must wield it calmly. If you try to wield it quickly, like a folding fan or a short sword, you will err by using "short sword chopping". You cannot cut a man with a long sword using this method.
“Those who do not fear the sword they wield have no right to wield a sword at all.
~Shuhei Hisagi”
Tite Kubo
(1977) Japanese manga artist
Variant: He who does not fear the sword he holds is not worthy of holding a sword.
-Hisagi Shuuhei
Bernard Cornwell
(1944) British writer
Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, p. 69
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Rifles (1988)
“There is no fast way of wielding the long sword.”
Miyamoto Musashi
(1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist
Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Ground Book
Context: There is no fast way of wielding the long sword. The long sword should be wielded broadly, and the companion sword closely. This is the first thing to realise.
According to this Ichi school, you can win with a long weapon, and yet you can also win with a short weapon. In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size.