Words cutt more than swords.

James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist

Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “English Proverbs” (1659) [compiler]
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A common proverbial concept before and after. See also the Bible, Shakespeare (1590), Shakespeare (1598), Herbert (1640), Franklin (1744), Irving (1820), Lowell (1914), Sarton (1973), Fry (1997), Ginott (2003).