Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton Quotes

In life there are meetings which seem Like a fate.

Be it jewel or toy, not the prize gives the joy, but the striving to win the prize.

We may live without friends; we may live without books But civilized men cannot live without cooks.

Those true eyes, Too pure and too honest in aught to disguise, The sweet soul shining through them.

The man who seeks one thing in life and but one, May hope to achieve it before life is done; But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes, Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows, A harvest of barren regrets.

I loved you ere I knew you; know you now, And having known you, love you better still.

That man is great, and he alone, Who serves a greatness not his own, For neither praise nor self: Content to know and be unknown: Whole in himself.

No star ever rose or set without influence somewhere.

Since we parted yester eve, I do love thee, love, believe, Twelve times dearer, twelve hours longer,- One dream deeper, one night stronger, One sun surer,-thus much more Than I loved thee, love, before.

Rest is sweet after strife.

We are our own fates.- Our deeds are our own doomsmen.- Man's life was made not for creeds but actions.

We may live without poetry, music and art; We may live without conscience, and live without heart; We may live without friends; we may live without books; But civilized man cannot live without cooks. . . . He may live without books,-what is knowledge but grieving? He may live without hope,-what is hope but deceiving? He may live without love,-what is passion but pining? But where is the man that can live without dining?

There is purpose in pain; otherwise it were devilish.

The world is a nettle; disturb it, it stings. Grasp it firmly, it stings not.

We are but as the instrument of Heaven.

The world is filled with folly and sin, And Love must cling, where it can, I say: For Beauty is easy enough to win; But one isn't loved every day.

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.

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

Master books, but do not let them master you. - Read to live, not live to read.

No one will learn anything at all, unless one first will learn humility.

Good -humor is goodness and wisdom combined.

Sorrows humanize our race; tears are the showers that fertilize the world.

There's a moment when all would go smooth and even, If only the dead could find out when To come back, and be forgiven.

We gain justice, judgment, with years, or else years are in vain.

Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem.