Edward Bulwer-Lytton quotes

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician, widely recognized for his contributions to Victorian literature. Famous for coining phrases like "the pen is mightier than the sword," his works influenced both popular culture and literary style. He achieved lasting fame through novels such as "The Last Days of Pompeii" and his distinctive narrative voice. Here are 103 of his quotes:

A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The easiest person to deceive is one's self.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday. As to the morrow, time enough to consider it when it becomes today.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

In science, read, by preference the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classic literature is always modern.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Talent does what it can, Genius does what it must.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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

Fate laughs at probabilities.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Happy is 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

Rank is a great beautifier.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

My father died shortly after I was twenty-one; and being left well off, and having a taste for travel and adventure, I resigned, for a time, all pursuit of the almighty dollar, and became a desultory wanderer over the face of the earth.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The man who succeeds above his fellows is the one who, early in life, clearly discerns his object, and towards that object habitually directs his powers. Even genius itself is but fine observation strengthened by fixity of purpose. Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Truth makes on the ocean of nature no one track of light - every eye looking on finds its own.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

You speak As one who fed on poetry.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Alone! - that worn-out word, So idly spoken, and so coldly heard; Yet all that poets sing and grief hath known Of hopes laid waste, knells in that word ALONE!

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

There are times when the mirth of others only saddens us, especially the mirth of children with high spirits, that jar on our own quiet mood.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Ambition has no rest.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

In the lexicon of youth which fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such word as fail.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

If a good face is a letter of recommendation, a good heart is a letter of credit.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The man who smokes, thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton