Ahh...Seven of Swords again. This one seems to come up quite a bit.
I've wondered about this card myself, and of course my thoughts on it have evolved over time. I've read a lot of commentaries that focus in on the theft aspect, but to me there's a lot more.
Swords are typicaly associated with Air, which I associate with imagination, as opposed to intellect, which would be on a lower, watery/lunar/emotional level. Imagination creates the dream, the idea, the general goal. Intellect provides the "means whereby."
To be most effective, it's best to keep dreams a secret. Nine times out of ten if you share your fondest dreams with another person they try to squelch it; not only that, by talking about it, you dissipate energy that could be better spent in the actualization of your dream.
This fellow on the Seven of Swords seems to be hatching secret dreams. He is Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk. The swords he carries (thoughts and ideas) probably came from the tents with open flaps in the background (the storehouses of hidden wisdom and ideas). Like Jack and his goose that lays the golden eggs, these "stolen" swords will serve him well in the future. But the swords are not really stolen, they have been given to him because of his courage and persistence. The storehouse of infinite wisdom opens its doors to the bold. He tiptoes away so as not to draw unwanted attention; he isn't interested in attention, he is interested in success.
fools fool