“Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.”

— Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu

Act ii, Scene ii. This is the origin of the much quoted phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword". Compare: "Hinc quam sic calamus sævior ense, patet. The pen worse than the sword", Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part i. Sect. 2, Memb. 4, Subsect. 4.
Richelieu (1839)

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Edward Bulwer-Lytton31

English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician 1803–1873

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