The quote "I would rather be the hammer than the anvil" is famous quote attributed to Erwin Rommel (1891–1944), German field marshal of World War II.
“In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer…”
“Tell people the hammered truth, and it will ring like steel against an anvil.”
Source: The Floating Island
El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
Song lyrics, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)
“6075. When you are Anvil, hold you still;
When you are Hammer, strike your Fill.”
Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1758) : When you're an Anvil, hold you still, When you're a Hammer, strike your Fill.
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“334. When you are an anvill, hold you still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
“It is better to be the hammer than the nail.”
Egwene al'Vere
(15 October 1991)
“If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land.”
"If I Had A Hammer" (1949) Though Seeger composed the music of this song the lyrics were actually written by fellow member of The Weavers, Lee Hays.
Misattributed
Context: If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land.
I'd hammer out danger,
I'd hammer out a warning,
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land...
Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.
It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
“It is better to guide people than try to hammer them into a line.”
Morgase Trakand
(15 September 1992)
