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Who really said it

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

Written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1803–1873 · English novelist, playwright & politician (1st Baron Lytton)
Verified Free to reuse

Genuinely Bulwer-Lytton’s — but the familiar one-liner is a trimmed-down version of a three-line verse from his historical play Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy (1839). The full passage reads “In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves / For a bright manhood, there is no such word / As ‘fail.’”

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“In the lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail” Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy (1839), Act III, Scene I

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Evoking the world of Edward Bulwer-Lytton — English novelist, playwright & politician. Theme: "In the lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Work
Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy
Type
Verse play in five acts, first performed 7 March 1839
Location
Commonly cited as Act III, Scene I (some editions list Act II)
Author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873)

In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves / For a bright manhood, there is no such word / As ‘fail.’

The lines are spoken by the Cardinal Richelieu, urging on the young hero Adrien de Mauprat. The circulated quote drops the middle clause, turning a three-line blank-verse speech into a flat aphorism.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton at Wikiquote (Richelieu section)

How we traced it

  • The full passage — “which Fate reserves / For a bright manhood” and all — is preserved on Wikiquote, sourced to Richelieu (1839).
  • QuotePark attributes the same three-line wording to Richelieu, Act III, Scene I (1839).
  • The play is the same one that gave English “the pen is mightier than the sword” (Act II, Scene II) — both are genuine Bulwer-Lytton coinages from 1839.
Public domain

Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy was first published and performed in 1839, so both the play and this passage are in the public domain in the United States.

Fact-check

About the wording

The author is right — but the sentence you usually see has been quietly edited. The circulated one-liner drops a clause and flattens Bulwer-Lytton’s blank verse into prose.

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

This condensed version omits the middle of the original: “which Fate reserves / For a bright manhood.” The full three-line passage appears on Wikiquote, sourced to Richelieu (1839).

A universal life-motto Context stripped

In the play the words are spoken by the Cardinal Richelieu to spur the young hero Adrien de Mauprat — a dramatic pep-talk, not a stand-alone maxim, as the sourced passage shows.

Genuinely Bulwer-Lytton, genuinely from Richelieu (1839) — just remember the popular version is a trimmed quotation of a longer verse (Wikiquote).

Context

Why it caught on

Richelieu was a hit of the Victorian stage, and its most portable lines — this one and “the pen is mightier than the sword” — escaped the theatre to become common currency. Stripped of its verse and its speaker, the youth-and-failure line reads like a pure motivational slogan, which is exactly how it now circulates on posters and social feeds.

There is no such word / As ‘fail.’

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Failure Hope

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Edward Bulwer-Lyttonen.wikiquote.org

Sourced quotations including this line, tied to Richelieu (1839).
‘Lexicon of youth’ quotequotepark.com

Full three-line wording attributed to Richelieu, Act III, Scene I.
Richelieu: Or, The Conspiracybooks.google.com

Scanned edition of the 1839 play for reading the passage in context.
The pen is mightier than the sworden.wikipedia.org

Confirms Richelieu (1839) as the source of Bulwer-Lytton’s famous stage aphorisms.
Edward Bulwer-Lyttonen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the novelist-playwright (1803–1873).

The true author

About Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy (London: Saunders and Otley, 1839), Act III, Scene I.

MLA (9th ed.)

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy. Saunders and Otley, 1839.

APA (7th ed.)

Bulwer-Lytton, E. (1839). Richelieu; or, the conspiracy. Saunders and Otley.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘In the lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/in-the-lexicon-of-youth-there-is-no-such-word-as-fail

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