A good swordsman is never quarrelsome.
A good swordsman is never quarrelsome.
Meaning in plain English
A person who is secure in a skill may have less need to prove it through conflict. The source’s absolute wording offers an ideal of restraint, not a guarantee about the behaviour of skilled people.
Example
An experienced debater is provoked during a discussion. Rather than trying to humiliate the other speaker, they return to the question and invite a clear account of the disagreement.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The swordsman’s ability makes a needless quarrel especially consequential. A charitable interpretation is that knowledge of one’s capacity should encourage control rather than a display of superiority. The wider lesson concerns confidence and responsibility: being able to prevail does not make confrontation the best response. People with experience can help settle a disagreement by listening and explaining their limits. The claim that they are never quarrelsome is too strong, however; skill can coexist with impatience, vanity or misuse of power.
When to use it
Use it as an ideal of restraint when ability or authority could turn a disagreement into a contest.
Keep in mind
The weapon image is not guidance for handling weapons or a reason to assume that a competent person is safe in every circumstance.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857)
Printed page 9; French section, paragraph 173; source wording: Bonne epée, point querelleur.
Read the original context ↗ - Attribution confidence
- traditional · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified. - Historical coordinate
- Undated
No reliable date supplied by the collection. - Rights & edition
- Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗