“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.”
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Russian composer and pianist
Said to Isaac Glikman, 1936; cited from Laurel Fay Shostakovich: A Life (2000) p. 92.
Numa mão sempre a espada, e noutra a pena.
Stanza 79, line 8 (tr. Richard Fanshawe)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto VII
“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.”
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Russian composer and pianist
Said to Isaac Glikman, 1936; cited from Laurel Fay Shostakovich: A Life (2000) p. 92.
“I ’ll make thee glorious by my pen,
And famous by my sword.”
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650) Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
My Dear and only Love. Compare: "I ’ll make thee famous by my pen, And glorious by my sword", Sir Walter Scott, Legend of Montrose, chap. xv.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist
E 76
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook E (1775 - 1776)
Graham Greene (1904–1991) English writer, playwright and literary critic
International Herald Tribune (October 7, 1977)
“I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.”
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
“The pen is mightier than the sword, if you shoot that pen out of a gun”
Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor
“The pen worse than the sword.”
Hinc quam sic calamus sævior ense, patet.
Robert Burton book The Anatomy of Melancholy
Section 2, member 4, subsection 4.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part I
Khalil Gibran book Jesus, The Son of Man
Thus spoke Jesus, and unto all the kingdoms of the earth I was blinded, and unto all the cities of walls and towers; and it was in my heart to follow the Master to His kingdom.
James The Son Of Zebedee: On The Kingdoms Of The World
Jesus, The Son of Man (1928)