1803–1873 · English novelist, playwright & politician
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, was one of the best-selling and most quotable authors of the Victorian era. His 1839 verse play Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy alone gave English several enduring phrases — “the pen is mightier than the sword” and this line about youth and failure among them. He also coined “It was a dark and stormy night,” which is why an annual bad-prose contest bears his name.