Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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.

Traced to source

2 quotes we’ve traced to Edward Bulwer-Lytton

“In the lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail”

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“The pen is mightier than the sword”

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Not actually Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Often misattributed to Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Famous lines widely pinned on Edward Bulwer-Lytton that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Talent does what it can; genius does what it must”

actually Robert Bulwer-Lytton (‘Owen Meredith’)

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