When have you embodied the phrase, "Talk softly, but carry a big stick"?

I'm a big man and have always been. When you're a kid born with a little extra size & muscle you learn really quick that if you go through life at full power/full speed everything you own is gonna' get broken, so you learn to attenuate your physical strength...to 'dial it down' so you're less of a congenital wrecking ball. You kinda' have to become a 'gentle giant' else you're constantly apologizing.

The way this has served me vis a vis your question should be fairly obvious. I already look like a hard case so in general (and this theory has been tested in sketch neighborhoods down to desperate third world cities) all I have to do is keep speaking softly and let the idea of what a stick of mine would be like do the heavy lifting for me.

/r/AskMen Thread