Dissecting Quotes
By worldwise1
@worldwise1 (14885)
United States
June 12, 2008 10:11am CST
From time to time I like to pick a famous quote and proceed to dissect it. I got to thinking about one in particular last night: "The pen is mightier than the sword." The quote itself is pretty obvious to anyone who is a reader. Fortunes have been made or lost with the stroke of a pen. Individual's fate's have been decided with the stroke of a pen. I will give you one example of how this could work and then I would like for you to give me one. Many years ago there was a man and his wife who owned a fair-sized property -part of which their modest home was built upon. Years later the sister of the wife asked them if she could purchase a small parcel of this property to build her own little home on. The arrangement was agreed upon. Somehow the deal got messed up and it was only discovered many years later that the sister ended up owning the majority of the property. All of the pleading in the world could not persuade her to right the wrong that had been done to her sister and brother-in-law. This resulted in a breaking off of any relationship with the parties involved. If the sister had only done the right thing all of the heartache could have been resolved, but it never came to be because the married sister died unexpectedly shortly thereafter. Now it's your turn.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@naseeha (1382)
• India
12 Jun 08
Hey did you make it up? Thats nice actually.
Ok let me try and make one up.
It wont be as good as the one above.
"You can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink"
A man had a horse. He used to ride it every day. One day the horse did not allow him to mount. He tried every tactic but the horse would not budge. So maybe he thought the horse is thirsty. So he led the horse to the river. But still the horse did not drink the water. The man could not make the horse drink water so the saying came... You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
Maybe that was too silly 
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
15 Jun 08
No, naseeha, as a matter of fact I didn't make this story up. It actually happened to someone I know. The whole point is that the stroke of a pen changed these peoples lives drastically. Your anecdote is quite amusing.
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
12 Jun 08
There was a simaler problem on my dad's side of the family after my father became a barber and started cutting hair along with my granddad who was also a barber. My dad's half brother's family got upset because after my grandfateher got really sick my dad bought the bussiness from my grand father. My dad's half brother thought that my granddad had given him the bussiness. So my mother ended up having to explain that no it wasn't like that and that my dad was paying my grand dad for the place to run his and my mother's bussiness after my mother became a hair stylist also. Of course that was years ago the place is sold now and my parents are divorced but this is one of those situations that gave problems on my father's side of the family.
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
15 Jun 08
I find it interesting, Shaun, how people get the idea that they are entitled to something when actually they're not.
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
20 Jun 08
Power corrupts...
And absolute power corrupts...absolutely.
My story is from a fiction, almost fairytale like and shortened. A man asked to be rid of his boring world. He receives a strange power, to remove anyone from the world he so chooses. At first he doesn't believe this power, but soon does after testing it twice on criminals. Instead of living normally, the man decides to deliver justice. A short time passes and more people are vanquished. Society wonders what is happening, some in support, others in disgust. The man changes though, not seeing himself as an enforcer of justice but "Justice" itself... More disappearances happen and once again the man reevaluates himself... he sees himself as God now.
Citizens challenged what is going on, but the man simply destroyed them same as any criminal. The uprising surprises the man... "How could people question God?" His surprise turned to questioning, his questioning to concern, his concern to fear, his fear into blindness. Soon he decreed that anyone he thought was against him would be removed immediately.
But one day... the power stopped working. No one was removed. "What would cause this? I am a god, this cannot happen to me!" The man looked at his self-proclaimed nation, the world, only to see...nothing. Not a soul... the man got exactly what he wished for word for word. He was rid of the boring world. And all it took was delusion, and complete sacrifice of his own humanity. All because of power...
