I've had a great time trying to track down the source for the phrase "ideas are bulletproof."
One clear attribution-- and probably the one that has led to the phrases current popularity-- is to Alan Moore in either the original Warrior comics or in the 1989 book "V for Vendetta." The original form seems to be:
"Did you think to kill me? There's no flesh and blood within this cloak to kill. There is only an idea. And ideas are bulletproof."
It was made into the 2005 film of the same name. The film version is: However, "V for Vendetta" is known for its intertextuality. It is full of unattributed quotations. A search of quotations databases retrieves these related ideas: "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world; and that is an idea whose time has come." AND Hugo, Victor 1802-85 "A stand can be made against invasion by an army; no stand can be made against invasion by an idea." The two above links work from SUNY Buffalo. You may have online access from your local public library or from some other source.
[after a hail of gunfire doesn't stop V]
Creedy: Die! Die! Why won't you die?... Why won't you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
[in Nation 15 April 1943]
[Histoire d'un Crime (written 1851-2, published 1877) pt. 5, sect. 10]
In 1840, Domingo F.
In 1840, Domingo F. Sarmiento (who would later on would became Argentine president) , was scaping to Chile from Argentina, persecuted by the Argentinean government because of his opposition to the dictatorship. At a point on his crossing the Andes, he wrote on a stone a phrase in french: "On ne tue point les idees", that translates to English as "Ideas cannot be killed". Probably Sarmiento took that phrase form a french thinker: Constantin-François Chassebœuf de La Giraudais, comte Volney (1757-1820)
In 1840, Domingo F.
In 1840, Domingo F. Sarmiento (who would later on would became Argentine president) , was scaping to Chile from Argentina, persecuted by the Argentinean government because of his opposition to the dictatorship. At a point on his crossing the Andes, he wrote on a stone a phrase in french: "On ne tue point les idees", that translates to English as "Ideas cannot be killed". Probably Sarmiento took that phrase form a french thinker: Constantin-François Chassebœuf de La Giraudais, comte Volney (1757-1820)