Logo - Feel The Words

Axes Quotes

Quotes on axes to grind and hidden motives.

Most of these quotes use 'axes' figuratively, as in having no axes to grind, with one person explaining they're avoiding interviews and publicity junkets entirely rather than pushing any hidden agenda. Another notes that support for open speech tends to be widespread only when nobody actually has a real grievance to push.

We must wake up to the insane reality of our time. We are all irresponsible, unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to people whose former battle axes and swords...

Quotes by Thor Heyerdahl

Interviews are usually a follow-up, like a press junket or a publicity junket, or something like that, and I'm not doing any of that right now. I don't have any axes to grind.

Quotes by Michael Nesmith

We are all fed from hundreds and thousands of hands. Often we do not know whose they are nor how they work. Only a few of us ever visualize the hands that grope in the coal mines or push levers...

Quotes by Louis MacNeice

Everybody favours free speech in the slack moments when no axes are being ground.

Quotes by Heywood Broun

Battle Quotes

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.

Quotes by Edsger Dijkstra

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 'no axes to grind' mean in this context?
It's used to describe having no hidden agenda, with one speaker explaining they're skipping interviews and publicity junkets specifically because they don't have any axes to grind. It's a common idiom used here to signal an absence of ulterior motives.
How does the quote about free speech use the axe-grinding metaphor?
It observes that everyone favors free speech, but only in the slack moments when no axes are actually being ground, implying support for open speech tends to disappear once real disagreements surface. It's a cynical but pointed observation about how principles get tested.
What warning does one quote give about modern armaments?
It calls for waking up to the reality that people are irresponsible unless they demand accountability from decision-makers who keep dangerous weapons available to unpredictable buyers. See Decision quotes for related themes.
How does the quote about hands and coal mines relate to axes?
It reflects on how disconnected most people are from the labor behind everyday goods, noting we're fed by countless hands whose work in coal mines or on levers we rarely see or understand. It's less about literal axes and more about hidden effort and hidden motives alike.
Do these quotes treat having an agenda as inherently bad?
Not entirely, since the quotes mostly criticize hidden or self-serving agendas, while the free speech line suggests genuine principle should hold up even when there is one. That distinction keeps the topic from being one-sided, echoed in Battle quotes.

A more serious warning appears too, urging responsibility over modern armaments and pointing out how disconnected most people are from the hands actually doing the dangerous work behind the scenes. That gap runs through Decision quotes and Battle quotes as well.