In science, read, by preference, the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classic literature is always modern.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

It is not by the gray of the hair that one knows the age of the heart.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Master books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

No author ever drew a character consistent to human nature, but he was forced to ascribe to it many inconsistencies.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

O be very sure That no man will learn anything at all, Unless he first will learn humility.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

One of the sublimest things in the world is plain truth.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

One of the surest evidences of friendship that one individual can display to another is telling him gently of a fault. If any other can excel it, it is listening to such a disclosure with gratitude, and amending the error.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Power is so characteristically calm, that calmness in itself has the aspect of strength.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Refuse to be ill. Never tell people you are ill; never own it to yourself. Illness is one of those things which a man should resist on principle at the onset.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Remorse is the echo of a lost virtue.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The easiest person to deceive is one's self.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The pen is mightier than the sword.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The prudent person may direct a state, but it is the enthusiast who regenerates or ruins it.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another man's observation, not overturning it.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

There is no such thing as luck. It's a fancy name for being always at our duty, and so sure to be ready when good time comes.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

There is nothing certain in a man's life but that he must lose it.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton

There is nothing so agonizing to the fine skin of vanity as the application of a rough truth.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton