Knife Quotes and Sayings

Browse our list of the best knife quotes and sayings on the Directness EDC reviews website. Includes quotes about owning knives, collecting them, making them and admiring them. The knife quotations are mostly by notable knife enthusiasts and those in the knife industry.

Famous Knife Quotes Online

We’re making a material (product) that saves lives and can be dangerous if used improperly or if it fails it can be dangerous, and so we take our product line very seriously for what we’re delivering.
Eric Glesser

In our lightweights we’ll bring a very high performance steel like a 110V for example, and put it into a lightweight handle. This is going to give you a less expensive knife that’s going to perform very well, at a lower cost. Sometimes around the office we joke about, you know, we’re putting a Ferrari engine in a little inexpensive car, but that’s what you’re getting.
Eric Glesser

The knife industry is very old but it’s still being developed all the time. Everything you see on a knife was developed or invented by somebody.
Eric Glesser

We’re working on hundreds of different knives at any given time. The knife market is huge. It goes from little knives to big knives and all purposes in between.
Eric Glesser

I learned how to open knives with one hand when I was young and I thought it would be really nice if we could create a knife that would open with one hand, without any springs or buttons. So we started out by adding things to a blade.. studs and little discs and things that you could use. But they always got in the way of sharpening. So then we started removing things from the blade. We started out by roughing up the blades so you could get some traction. And then we created a little dip in the blade so you could open it. A dip on both sides became a hole.
Sal Glesser

I don’t think that one (knife design) makes me more proud than another. We work on all of them until we’re satisfied that the model serves the intended purpose and is as good as we can make it. When we learn of changes or improvements, we do those as well.. to all of them.
Sal Glesser

We don’t plan to pin our knives or make it impossible for you to take them apart. We will continually try to make them stronger so if you do take them apart, it will be more difficult to damage them.
Sal Glesser

I’ll start with pencil and paper, CAD it, make plastic models with Peter from CAD drawings, often for months until I get as close as I can at the time to my “idea”. Like carving an elephant; take a piece of material and cut away everything that isn’t elephant. Once the design is close to it’s “pure form”, I’ll refine the materials based on the original idea and run with it. I don’t have the “eye” of a (Bob) Lum, so appearance plays little in the fished outcome.
Sal Glesser

Most people, even if they buy a knife for self-defense, don’t use it for that. They use it for opening mail and packages and preparing food. Just peeling an apple requires a knife. You don’t need a big knife for everything.
Sal Glesser

Performance is our primary focus. We’re not making pretty knives. We’re making knives that cut well for a long time. Reliable, high-performance is our marketing pitch. A lot of our market is military, law enforcement, firemen and other people who actually depend upon a knife.
Sal Glesser

I try to look for new and different ways to interpret knives. There’s no shortage of knife makers and brands out there, so you’ve got to take a different approach to stand out.
Ken Onion

I think one of the most exciting parts of knife design is the public reveal. You have a feeling but you just never know if you’re going to hear — “Wow, what a great knife,” or “What was he thinking?”
Ken Onion

It’s been a privilege to be a part of this (knife) industry, and I’ve been fortunate enough to not only make a living doing what I love, but to have had friends and mentors help me along the way.
Ken Onion

I try to make the craft of utilizing a knife, mankind’s second oldest tool, as simple and easy as possible. Materials, form, balance and ergonomics are all part of the equation, but essentially it’s ease of use and utility that we’re after.
Ken Onion

They told me it was a switchblade knife but technically it really wasn’t a switchblade. I’d studied the law and was convinced that I was right. There is a huge difference between pushing a button on the handle and manually opening the blade. (talking about his Speed Safe assist mechanism)
Ken Onion

I made my first knife in November 1991 and have continued the craft since.
Ken Onion

I wanted to make a knife as smooth as Stan’s (Fujisaka) or even smoother. I figured the only way I could even make it better was if it had an assist. So I had that word in my head when a friend came over to have a cam machined for her Harley. I put the concepts of “cam” and “assist” together and a light bulb went off.
Ken Onion

I started the mid-tech trend to create a category of knives in between custom and production, and hopefully have created some clarity in the marketplace.
Ken Onion

Though I have been a devout knife collector since childhood, collecting mostly production knives and anything else I could find, I was unaware of the custom knife industry until 1989 when I saw an issue of Knives Illustrated at a local drug store.
Ken Onion

I started Cold Steel because I broke two of my competitors knives. One right after the other and I said I could do a better job and I must do a better job.
Lynn Thompson

My passion for Martial Arts and my training also informs my design. After 30 years of training and of testing knives I have a pretty good idea of what works and why.
Lynn Thompson

The Tai-Pan is one of my all-time favorite designs. I tried so hard to make the best double edged dagger that I could. Even after all these years, I’m still not sure it can be improved upon.
Lynn Thompson

The most important thing when you pick out a knife is how strong is the lock? Not how cool it looks. Not how sexy it is.
Lynn Thompson

Fashions change, technology changes, materials change. All of that has an impact on what I do. Remember, my main focus is mass-production knives for an international audience. My knives are unashamedly tactical in nature; I find that what I do attracts a certain type of customer.
Lynn Thompson

I was the first one, Cold Steel, to break the $100 price barrier and start selling commercially made knives for over $100 and it was a huge struggle. Like the tanto point that everybody recognizes today, I introduced that to the American public.
Lynn Thompson

It’s hard to make something look really good and perform real well. My wife said, why can’t we make really sexy knives like the competitors do? I said because they won’t cut and they don’t stab.
Lynn Thompson

Andrew Demko from Demko Knives has been an incredibly positive force for my brand and he’s a pleasure to work with. He and I have worked together for many years now. He shares many of my interests and sensibilities.
Lynn Thompson

I’m always interested in why a knife or a sword was designed the way it was. The truth is almost always function, performance and necessity based on circumstances and conditions of combat.
Lynn Thompson

I have rooms and rooms FULL of knives, swords, spears, edged weapons and tools. I’ve been collecting them my whole life. I love going to gun shows and knife conventions and seeing what’s there. There’s always something new and exciting and there’s always something to learn if you look hard enough.
Lynn Thompson

A lot of my influences come from historical sources. I’m an avid reader and something of an amateur historian. I have a HUGE library of books and a vast collection of antique blades as well as modern reproductions.
Lynn Thompson

Designing a knife can take years or it can take days. If inspiration strikes just right, it’s a wonderful thing. I often find myself constantly revisiting the design. Trying to make it better. Prototyping and re-working until I get something I like.
Lynn Thompson

Relating to Quotes about Knives

What do you think about knives? Share your own knife quotations in the comments below. 🔪 See our list of Knife Industry People, Knife Brands or Folding Knife Reviews.

Help support our website by purchasing a knife or two on the BladeHQ website here. You get a new knife at a great price and we receive a small commission. Thanks 👍