Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The desire of excellence is the necessary attribute of those who excel. We work little for a thing unless we wish for it.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The easiest person to deceive is one’s own self.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labor.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A friend who stands with you in pressure is more valuable than a hundred ones who stand with you in pleasure.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A man of genius is inexhaustible only in proportion as he is always renourishing his genius.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A man’s ancestry is a positive property to him.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton