[tzs]

That works great on the playground when some kid is insulting you to your face. But at some point people figure out that while words themselves cannot directly harm a person, they can be used to influence future events in a way that will harm that person.

Then a different bit of writing, predating the "sticks and stones" saying by a couple thousand years, is more accurate. That would be Ecclesiasticus 28:17-18, which says:

> The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword: but not so many as have fallen by the tongue.

Or even older, "The word is mightier than the sword" from 2500 year old Assyrian writings.

I like Shakespeare's version: "many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills".