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Edward Bulwer-Lytton
73 quotes
“... if the breast be uneducated, the gift may curse the giver; and he who passes at once from the slave to the freeman may pass as rapidly from the freeman to the ruffian.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) first seen 1835 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rienzi: The Last of the Tribunes (1835), ch. 1.X
“Two lives that once part, are as ships that divide When, moment on moment there rushes between The one and the other, a sea,— Ah, never can fall from the days that have been A gleam on the years that shall be.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) first seen 1853 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Lament", in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Sir Edward Bulmer Lytton, Bart, Vol. III (London: Chapman & Hall, 1853), p. 226
“The Wind and the Beam loved the Rose, And the Rose loved one: For who recks the Wind where it blows? Or loves not the Sun?None knew whence the humble Wind stole, Poor sport of the skies: None dreamt that the Wind had a soul In its mournful sighs.O happy Beam, how canst thou prove That bright love of thine? In thy light is the proof of thy love, Thou hast but to shine.How its love can the Wind reveal? Unwelcome its sigh: Mute, mute to the Rose let it steal— Its proof is—to die!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nydia’s Song", often anthologised, including by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse (1912)
“There is no society, however free and democratic, where wealth will not create an aristocracy.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The easiest person to deceive is one’s own self.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not Wisdom, but Ignorance, which teaches men presumption; Genius may be sometimes arrogant, but nothing is so diffident as Knowledge.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He is certainly a man who bathes and "lives cleanly," (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Repent!—that is the idlest word in our language.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poverty makes some humble, but more malignant.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is a very contradiction of all the elements of our ordinary nature: it makes the proud man meek,—the cheerful, sad,—the high-spirited, tame; our strongest resolutions, our hardiest energy, fall before it. Believe me, you cannot prophesy of its future effect in a man from any knowledge of his past character.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fate laughs at probabilities.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Buy my flowers—O buy—I pray! The blind girl comes from afar; If the earth be as fair as her children say, These flowers her children are!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who has loved often has loved never.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm; it is the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus—it moves stones, it charms brutes. Enthusiasm is the genius of sincerity, and truth accomplishes no victories without it.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no tongue that flatters like a lover's; and yet, in the exaggeration of his feelings, flattery seems to him commonplace.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion, and we may measure our road to wisdom by the sorrows we have undergone.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books are waste paper unless we spend in action the wisdom we get from thought.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no anguish like an error of which we feel ashamed.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When stars are in the quiet skies, Then most I pine for thee; Bend on me, then, thy tender eyes, As stars look on the sea!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Edward Bulwer Lytton
“Beauty, thou art twice blessed; thou blessest the gazer and the possessor; often at once the effect and the cause of goodness! A sweet disposition—a lovely soul—an affectionate nature—will speak in the eyes—the lips—the brows—and become the cause of beauty. On the other hand, they who have a gift that commands love, a key that opens all hearts, are ordinarily inclined to look with happy eyes upon the world—to be cheerful and serene—to hope and to confide. There is more wisdom than the vulgar dream of in our admiration of a fair face.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is an old age which has more youth of heart than youth itself!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the People have no other tyrant, their own public opinion becomes one.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Castles in the air cost a vast deal to keep up.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rank is a great beautifier.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Curse away! And let me tell thee, Beauseant, a wise proverb The Arabs have,—"Curses are like young chickens, And still come home to roost!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You speak As one who fed on poetry.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love hath no need of words.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Edward Bulwer Lytton
“Take away the sword— States can be saved without it!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Edward Bulwer Lytton
“Ambition has no risk.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves For a bright manhood, there is no such word As "fail".”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Edward Bulwer Lytton
“Our glories float between the earth and heaven Like clouds which seem pavilions of the sun, And are the playthings of the casual wind.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When a person's down in the world, I think an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man who smokes, thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Edward Bulwer Lytton
“Little minds give importance to the man who gives importance to nothing.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Real philosophy seeks rather to solve than to deny.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To the man who aspires to know, no man who has been the meanest student of knowledge should be unknown.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is arrogant in proportion to his ignorance.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We commenced research where modern conjecture closes its faithless wings. And with us, those were the common elements of science which the sages of to-day disdain as wild chimeras, or despair of as unfathomable mysteries.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by H.P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, Part One, Science, Ch. 1 (1877)
“Remorse is the echo of a lost virtue.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happy the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though Hope be a small child, she can carry a great anchor!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Night, to the earnest soul, opens the Bible of the Universe, and on the leaves of Heaven is written,—"God is everywhere!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is destiny!"—phrase of the weak human heart! "It is destiny!"—dark apology for every error! The strong and virtuous admit no destiny! On earth, guides Conscience—in heaven, watches God. And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one—to dethrone the other!”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Light literature,—that grace and flower of human culture, that best philosophy of all, humanizing us with gentle art, making us wise through the humours, elevated through the passions, tender in the affections of our kind.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most useless creature that ever yawned at a club, or counted the vermin on his rags under the suns of Calabria, has no excuse for want of intellect. What men want is not talent, it is purpose,—in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why should the soul ever repose? God, its Principle, reposes never. While we speak, new worlds are sparkling forth—suns are throwing off their nebulae—nebulae are hardening into worlds. The Almighty proves His existence by creating.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source