It is what we do that really matters, not just what we say. In Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha answers the mighty and bragging Megissogwen:
‘Big words do not smite like war-clubs,
Boastful breath is not a bow-string,
Taunts are not as sharp as arrows,
Deeds are better things than words are,
Actions mightier than than boasting!’