Such I hold to be the genuine use of Gunpowder: that it makes all men tall.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian

Sartor Resartus, Book 2, ch. 8 (1834)
    (Source)

Quoting Herr Teufelsdröckh.

This passage first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 9, No. 52 (1834-04).