“When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins.”
Source: Snow Crash
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Neal Stephenson 167
American science fiction writer 1959Related quotes

A Hereditary Book on the Art of War (1632)
Context: A stroke of the sword that does not hit its target is the sword stroke of death; you reach over it to strike the winning blow. Your adversary's initiative having missed its mark, you turn the tables around and get the jump on your adversary.

“There may be a hundred stances and sword positions, but you win with just one.”
A Hereditary Book on the Art of War (1632)

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Fire Book

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Water Book

“Virtue always meets reward,
But quicker when it wears a sword;”
East and West Poems, Part II, The Legends of the Rhine.
Source: White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

Alwin Mittasch, as cited in: Ralph Edward Oesper, "Alwin Mittasch," Journal of Chemical Education (1948), 25, 532.