Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873)
English novelist, playwright, and politician.
Alone! — that worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly heard;
Yet all that poets sing and grief hath known
Of hopes laid waste, knells in that word ALONE!
Fate laughs at probabilities.
There are times when the mirth of others only saddens us, especially the mirth of children with high spirits, that jar on our own quiet mood.
Our glories float between the earth and heaven
Like clouds which seem pavilions of the sun.
The magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.
A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.
A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday. As to the morrow, time enough to consider it when it becomes to-day.
In science, read, by preference the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classics are always modern.