Sword

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

"I knew him a good backsword man."

"The sword gives truer tidings than do scriptures; Its edge is what tells zeal from vanity; White blades, not the black letters on the page — these Reveal misguided doubts for what they are."

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

"High she shook her shining falchion, pliant as the rushen plant, Falchion her dwarf-lover forged her, hard and bright as adamant."

": Lots of people name their swords. : Lots of cunts."

"A sigh is the Sword of an Angel King."

"Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! — But taking sorcery from the master-hand To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword — States can be saved without it!"

"My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it."

"The recruit must be carefully and sedulously taught when meeting the enemy, even at a trot or canter, to use no force whatever, otherwise his sword will bury itself to the hilt, and the swordsman will either be dragged from his horse, or will be compelled to drop his weapon — if he can."

"You are offensive...because this page has a sword which I chose to say is not a sword."

"Oh, thou dread sword, oft stain'd with heroes' gore, Thou awful terror of the prostrate Moor, What rage could aim thee at a female breast, Unarm'd, by softness and by love possess'd!"

"One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back."

"And al above, depeinted in a tour, Saugh I Conquest, sitting in greet honour, With the sharpe swerd over his heed, Hanginge by a subtil twines threed."

"For Colan had not bow nor sling, On a lonely sword leaned he, Like Arthur on Excalibur In the battle by the sea. To his great gold ear-ring Harold Tugged back the feathered tail, And swift had sprung the arrow, But swifter sprang the Gael. Whirling the one sword round his head, A great wheel in the sun, He sent it splendid through the sky, Flying before the shaft could fly — It smote Earl Harold over the eye, And blood began to run."

"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."

"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?"

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

": 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."

"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."

"L'épée est l'axe du monde."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Ho! then, the splendour And sheen of my ministry, Clothing the earth With a livery of lightnings! Ho! then, the music Of battles in onset And ruining armours, And God's gift returning In fury to God! Glittering and keen As the song of the winter stars, Ho! then, the sound Of my voice, the implacable Angel of Destiny!— I am the Sword."

"Agamemnon caught the spear with his hand and drew it toward him furiously, like a lion, and snatched it out of the hand of Iphidamas, and smote his neck with the sword, and unstrung his limbs. So even there he fell, and slept a sleep of bronze most piteously."

"Helenus, with his heavy Thracian blade Smiting the temples of Deipyrus, Dash'd off his helmet."

"On they moved, by Neptune led With firm hand grasping his long-bladed sword Keen as Jove's bolt."

"Then Peneleos and Lykon ran up close together, since these with their spear-throws had gone wide of each other, and each had made a cast vainly. So now the two of them ran together with swords. There Lykon hacked at the horn of the horse-hair crested helm, but the sword blade broke at the socket; Peneleos cut at the neck underneath the ear, and the sword sank clean inside, with only skin left to hold it, and the head slumped aside, and the limbs were loosened."

"Deucalion next—he lanced his arm with a bronze-shod spear, he spitted the Trojan through where the elbow-tendons grip and there he stood, waiting Achilles, arm dangling heavy, staring death in the face—and Achilles chopped his neck and his sword sent head and helmet flying off together and marrow bubbling up from the clean-cut neckbone."

"The fighter who is first of the two to get in a stroke at the other’s fair body, to get through armor and dark blood and reach to the vitals, to that man I will give this magnificent silver-nailed sword of Thrace I stripped from the body of Asteropaios."

"If men are to meet steel with steel, they should be adequately armed. Long spears and short swords to meet a charge of long swords. If you don't believe that, read the chronicles of Rome and Macedonia."

"Wits and swords are as straws against the wisdom of the Darkness."

"The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing."

"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

"Reason will not decide at last; the sword will decide. The sword: an obsolete instrument of bronze or steel, formerly used to kill men, but here In the sense of a symbol."

"The children of Israel have...slain thy prophets with the sword."

"I believe in things I never used to. I think someone is trying to find me — has found me. And is calling. Who it is I don't know. What they want I don't know. But a little while ago I found out one more thing — this sword." I picked the sword up from the table. "It isn't what I want," I went on, "But sometimes, when my mind is — abstract, something from outside floats into it. Like the need for a sword. And not any sword — just one. I don't know what the sword looks like, but I'd know if I held it in my hand." I laughed a little. "And if I drew it a few inches from the sheath, I could put out that fire up there as if I'd blown on it like a candleflame. And if I drew the sword all the way out — the world would come to an end!"

"What does it mean to be Samurai? To devote yourself utterly to a set of moral principles. To seek a stillness of your mind. And to master the way of the sword."

"Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam seruiat, enses."

"Your fathers lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age."