“Art itself is essentially ethical; because every true work of art must have a beauty or grandeur of some kind, and beauty and grandeur cannot be comprehended by the beholder except through the moral sentiment. The eye is only a witness; it is not a judge. The mind judges what the eye reports to it; therefore, whatever elevates the moral sentiment to the contemplation of beauty and grandeur is in itself ethical.” MindKindArtEyeMoralJudgingMoralityEthicsWitnessContemplationReportsWorks Of ArtSentimentsEthicalGrandeurBeholderVery True Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“Punctuality is a virtue, If you don't mind being lonely.” IfsMindVirtueLonelyBeing LonelyPunctualityPunctual Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“I believe that there is much less difference between the author and his works than is currently supposed; it is usually in the physical appearance of the writer,--his manners, his mien, his exterior,--that he falls short of the ideal a reasonable man forms of him--rarely in his mind.” MenMindBelieveFormFallI BelieveDifferencesIdealsAppearanceMannersReasonableExteriorAuthorshipPhysical AppearanceReasonable Man Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“The most delicate beauty in the mind of women is, and ever must be, an independence of artificial stimulants for content. It is not so with men. The links that bind men to capitals belong to the golden chain of civilization,--the chain which fastens all our destinies to the throne of Jove. And hence the larger proportion of men in whom genius is pre-eminent have preferred to live in cities, though some of them have bequeathed to us the loveliest pictures of the rural scenes in which they declined to dwell.” MenMindCitiesDestinyGeniusCivilizationSceneIndependenceGoldenChainsProportionLinksDelicateArtificialThronesOur DestinyStimulants Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“Emulation, even in brutes, is sensitively "nervous." See the tremor of the thoroughbred racer before he starts. The dray-horse does not tremble, but he does not emulate. It is not his work to run a race. Says Marcus Antoninus, "It is all one to a stone whether it be thrown upward or downward." Yet the emulation of a man of genius is seldom with his contemporaries, that is, inwardly in his mind, although outwardly in his act it would seem so. The competitors with whom his secret ambition seems to vie are the dead.” MenMindDoeSeemsRunningSecretRaceGeniusAmbitionStonesHorseNervousThrownCompetitorsBrutesEmulateEmulationRacersThoroughbreds Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“It is a very high mind to which gratitude is not a painful sensation. If you wish to please, you will find it wiser to receive, solicit even, favors, than accord them; for the vanity of the obligor is always flattered, that of the obligee rarely.” IfsMindWishGratitudePleasePainfulFavorsVanitySensationsWiserAccordFlattered Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday.” MindIdeasBodyProgressYesterdayDrainsBrain Drain Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“Never get a reputation for a small perfection if you are trying for fame in a loftier area. The world can only judge by generals, and it sees that those who pay considerable attention to minutiae seldom have their minds occupied with great things.” IfsWorldTryingMindCharacterPayAttentionJudgingFameAreasPerfectionGreat ThingsReputationMinutiae Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“The more a man desirous to pass at a value above his worth can contrast, by dignified silence, the garrulity of trivial minds, the more the world will give him credit for the wealth which he does not possess.” MenWorldGivingMindDoeValuesWealthSilenceCreditContrast Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“When some one sorrow, that is yet reparable, gets hold of your mind like a monomania,--when you think, because Heaven has denied you this or that, on which you had set your heart, that all your life must be a blank,--oh, then diet yourself well on biography,--the biography of good and great men. See how little a space one sorrow really makes in life. See scarce a page, perhaps, given to some grief similar to your own, and how triumphantly the life sails on beyond it.” ThinkingMenMindWellsHeartLittlesGivenHeavenSpaceGriefSorrowPagesDietsGreat MenDeniedBlankSailBiographiesScarce Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“It may, indeed, be said that sympathy exists in all minds, as Faraday has discovered that magnetism exists in all metals; but a certain temperature is required to develop the hidden property, whether in the metal or the mind.” MindMaySaidCertainPropertySympathyMetalsTemperatureMagnetism Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“A fresh mind keeps the body fresh.” MindBodyYesterdayDrainsBrain Drain Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last.” MindLastsPleasureStrongestFrivolousPleasures Of Life Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“Nine times out of ten it is over the Bridge of Sighs that we pass the narrow gulf from youth to manhood. That interval is usually marked by an ill placed or disappointed affection. We recover and we find ourselves a new being. The intellect has become hardened by the fire through which it has passed. The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion, and we may measure our road to wisdom by the sorrows we have undergone.” MindMayWisdomPassionFireYouthSorrowTenIllProfitAffectionIntellectNineBridgesDisappointedManhoodSighWrecksIntervalsHardened Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“There are two lives to each of us, the life of our actions, and the life of our minds and hearts. History reveals men's deeds and their outward characters, but not themselves. There is a secret self that has its own life, unpenetrated and unguessed.” MenMindHeartTwoSelfCharacterActionSecretDeedsHeart And MindOur ActionsArt HistoryTwo Lives Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“A mind once cultivated will not lie fallow for half an hour.” MindLyingHoursHalf Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“Art does not imitate nature, but founds itself on the study of nature, takes from nature the selections which best accord with its own intention, and then bestows on them that which nature does not possess, viz: The mind and soul of man.” MenMindDoeArtSoulFoundStudyIntentionSelectionAccordNature And Art Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion.” MindPassionProfitWrecks Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“Good humor is the sunshine of the mind.” MindSunshineDispositionGood Humor Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
