The world is not run from where he thinks. Not from castle walls, but from countinghouses, not by the call of the bugle but by the click of the abacus, not by the grate and click of the broadsword but by the scrape of the pen.
The worst thing in the world that can happen to you if you're an engineer that has given your life to something is for someone to rip it off and put their name on it.