"Give me twenty-six lead soldiers and I will conquer the world" - meaning the twenty-six letters of the alphabet on a printing press.

Referring to the lead type of bygone days, this quote about power of the printed word has been attributed to both Benjamin Franklin and Karl Marx. And through their writing each of them has made serious dents on our history.

Franklin co-authored the Declaration of Independence, setting the idea of democracy on a path that is still changing the world. But he also popularized what has become a $10 billion industry: self-improvement. At age 20, he published his 13 Virtues, beginning with Temperance: “Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.” And while he didn’t always live by his own advice, he never stopped publishing it.

In 1848 Karl Marx, along with Fredrich Engels, published the Communist Manifesto. And over the next few generations their ideas (however mangled) did, in fact, conquer about half of the world.

The power of an alphabet army formed into compelling ideas is without limit.

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Note: Taken from a blog page of Tom Peterson