Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton 1803-1873 John Bartlett


1
Rank is a great beautifier.
The Lady of Lyons. Act ii. Sc. i.
2
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.”
The Lady of Lyons. Act v. Sc. ii.
3
You speak As one who fed on poetry.
Richelieu. Act i. Sc. vi.
4
Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword. 1
Richelieu. Act ii. Sc. ii.
5
Ambition has no risk.
Richelieu. Act iii. Sc. i.
6
Take away the sword; States can be saved without it.
Richelieu. Act iii. Sc. i.
7
In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves For a bright manhood, there is no such word As “fail.”
Richelieu. Act iii. Sc. i.
8
Our glories float between the earth and heaven Like clouds which seem pavilions of the sun.
Richelieu. Act v. Sc. iii.
9
The brilliant chief, irregularly great, Frank, haughty, rash,—the Rupert of debate! 2
The New Timon. (1846). Part i.
10
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!
The New Timon. (1846). Part ii.



11
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! 3
A Lament.
12
Memory, no less than hope, owes its charm to “the far away.”
A Lament.
13
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.
When Stars are in the quiet Skies.
14
Buy my flowers,—oh buy, I pray! The blind girl comes from afar.
Buy my Flowers.
15
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.
Kenelm Chillingly.
16
The man who smokes, thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan.
Night and Morning. Chap. vi.
17
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.
Last of the Barons. Book v. Chap. i.
18
A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.
The Disowned. Chap. xxxiii.
19
The easiest person to deceive is one’s own self.
The Disowned. Chap. xlii.
20
The magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.
Eugene Aram. Book i. Chap. vii.
21
Fate laughs at probabilities.
Eugene Aram. Book i. Chap. x.
22
In science, read, by preference the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classics are always modern.
Caxtoniana: Hints on Mental Culture.

Note 1.
See Burton, page 189. [back]

Note 2.
In April, 1844, Mr. Disraeli thus alluded to Lord Stanley: “The noble lord is the Rupert of debate.” [back]

Note 3.
Ships that pass in the night. See Longfellow, page 644. [back]

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