Weapons

"Swordplay is an odd thing; you don't really use your mind, it is much too fast for that. Your wrist thinks and tells your feet and body what to do, bypassing your brain."

"I knew in three seconds that I was up against a better swordsman than myself, with a wrist like steel yet supple as a striking snake. He was the only swordsman I have ever met who used prime and octave — used them, I mean, as readily as sixte and carte. Everyone learns them and my own master made me practice them as much as the other six — but most fencers don't use them; they simply may be forced into them, awkwardly and just before losing a point. I would lose, not a point, but my life — and I knew, long before the end of that first long phrase, that my life was what I was about to lose, by all odds."

"There is a go-for-broke tactic, "the target," taught by the best swordmasters, which consists in headlong advance with arm, wrist, and blade in full extension — all attack and no attempt to parry. But it works only by perfect timing when you see your opponent slacken up momentarily. Otherwise it is suicide."

"A properly balanced sword is the most versatile weapon for close quarters ever devised. Pistols and guns are all offense, no defense; close on him fast and a man with a gun can't shoot, he has to stop you before you reach him. Close on a man carrying a blade and you'll be spitted like a roast pigeon — unless you have a blade and can use it better than he can. A sword never jams, never has to be reloaded, is always ready. Its worst shortcoming is that it takes great skill and patient, loving practice to gain that skill; it can't be taught to raw recruits in weeks, nor even months."

"I picked up and balanced them all...and found there the blade that suited me the way Excalibur suited Arthur. I've never seen one quite like it so I don't know what to call it...It balanced in the forte less than two inches from the guard, yet the blade was heavy enough to chop bone. It was the sort of sword that feels as if it were an extension of your body."

"The sword of Charlemagne the Just Is Ferric Oxide, known as rust."

"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

"L'épée est l'axe du monde."

"Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the ; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord .Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter."

": Do you know how to use that thing? : Yes. The pointy end goes into the other man. : This is going to take a lot of work."

"Folly such as yours, Grac'd with a sword, and worthier of a fan, Has made what enemies could ne'er have done."

"This tyrant Dionysius showed himself how happy he really was; for once, when Damocles, one of his flatterers, was dilating in conversation on his forces, his wealth, the greatness of his power, the plenty he enjoyed, the grandeur of his royal palaces, and maintaining that no one was ever happier, "Have you an inclination," said he, "Damocles, as this kind of life pleases you, to have a taste of it yourself, and to make a trial of the good fortune that attends me?" And when he said that he should like it extremely, Dionysius ordered him to be laid on a bed of gold with the most beautiful covering, embroidered and wrought with the most exquisite work, and he dressed out a great many sideboards with silver and embossed gold. He then ordered some youths, distinguished for their handsome persons, to wait at his table, and to observe his nod, in order to serve him with what he wanted. There were ointments and garlands; perfumes were burned; tables provided with the most exquisite meats. Damocles thought himself very happy. In the midst of this apparatus, Dionysius ordered a bright sword to be let down from the ceiling, suspended by a single horse-hair, so as to hang over the head of that happy man. After which he neither cast his eye on those handsome waiters, nor on the well-wrought plate; nor touched any of the provisions: presently the garlands fell to pieces. At last he entreated the tyrant to give him leave to go, for that now he had no desire to be happy. Does not Dionysius, then, seem to have declared there can be no happiness for one who is under constant apprehensions?"

"We discern across the centuries a commanding and versatile intelligence, wielding with equal force the sword of war and of justice; using in defence arms and policy; cherishing religion, learning, and art in the midst of adversity and danger; welding together a nation, and seeking always across the feuds and hatreds of the age a peace which would smile upon the land."

"Never yet did base dishonour blur our name But with our sword we wiped away the blot."

"My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears."

"Here is my keen-edg’d sword, Deck’d with five flower-de-luces on each side, The which at Touraine, in Saint Katharine’s churchyard, Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth."

"Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins To give each naked curtle-axe a stain, That our French gallants shall today draw out, And sheathe for lack of sport."

"And sheath’d their swords for lack of argument."

"By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I’ll kill him; by this sword, I will."

"I knew him a good backsword man."

"I would make him eat a piece of my sword."

"Full bravely hast thou flesh’d Thy maiden sword."

"My sword hacked like a handsaw."

"Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent."

"Many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills."

"Swear by my sword."

"With his own sword, Which he did wave against my throat, I have ta’en His head from him."

"Out, sword, and to a sore purpose!"

"The arbitrement of swords."

"Died with their swords in hand."

"I would my son Were in Arabia and thy tribe before him, His good sword in his hand."

"He has been bred i’ th’ wars Since he could draw a sword."

"His sword, Death’s stamp, Where it did mark, it took."

"We measured swords and parted."

"A gallant curtal-axe upon my thigh."

"I, that with my sword Quartered the world."

"O, thy vile lady! She has robbed me of my sword."

"I and my sword will earn our chronicle."

"I drunk him to his bed, Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst I wore his sword Philippan."

"Worthy fellows, and like to prove most sinewy sword-men."

"Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit: occidentis telum est."

"During one phase of the Dnieper campaign, after his troops had surrounded several German divisions, Koniev demanded their immediate surrender. When the Germans refused he ordered his saber-wielding Cossacks to attack. "We let the Cossacks cut for as long as they wished," he told Milovan Djilas, head of the Yugoslav Military Mission to Moscow, in 1944. "They even hacked off the hands of those who raised them to surrender.""

"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty."

"Deliver my soul from the sword."

"Greebo's technique was unscientific and wouldn't have stood a chance against any decent swordmanship, but on his side was the fact that it is almost impossible to develop decent swordmanship when you seem to have run into a food mixer that is biting your ear off."

"Her opponents started off grinning at the temerity of a slight young girl attacking them, and then rapidly passed through various stages of puzzlement, doubt, concern, and abject gibbering terror as they apparently became the center of a flashing, tightening circle of steel."

"The pen is mightier than the sword...if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp."

"It seemed that the land would be torn by war, Or saved by a miracle alone — And that miracle appeared in London town: The Sword in the Stone. And below the hilt, in letters of gold, were written these words: "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise King born of England." Though many tried for the Sword with all their strength, none could move the Sword, nor stir it. So the miracle had not worked, and England was still without a King. And, in time, the marvelous Sword was forgotten. This was a Dark Age, without law and without order. Men lived in fear of one another, for the strong preyed upon the weak."

"When MacArthur put out an order forbidding confiscation of Japanese officers' swords, Halsey was indignant. The next time he saw the general he protested, saying he considered the order unwise for two reasons. First, the sword, a symbol of militarism, would keep its spirit alive. He gave the example of Germany, where he had served as an attaché shortly after World War I. In many homes there he had seen a bust of Napoleon with a sword hung above it. Such displays, he was convinced, helped preserve in Germany the spirit of militarism that exploded into World War II. "That's true," said MacArthur, "but I was thinking of Appomattox, when Grant allowed Lee's troops to keep their side arms." "That brings me my second point," Halsey replied. "Grant was dealing with an honorable foe. We are not." The general pondered a few moments, pacing his office. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "You're right! I'll revoke the order." He did."

"We are told that one of the centurions sent to Rome by Caesar, as he stood in front of the senate house and learned that the senate would not give Caesar an extension of his term of command, slapped the handle of his sword and said: "But this will give it.""