<P> "The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage, coined by English author Edward Bulwer - Lytton in 1839, indicating that communication (particularly written language), or in some interpretations, administrative power or advocacy of an independent press, is a more effective tool than direct violence . </P> <P> The sentence (if not the idea, which had been expressed in various earlier forms) was coined by English author Edward Bulwer - Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy . The play was about Cardinal Richelieu, though in the author's words "license with dates and details...has been, though not unsparingly, indulged". The Cardinal's line in Act II, scene II, was more fully: </P>

Who coined the phrase the pen is mightier than the sword