Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British statesman and author (1803–1873)

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Lived 1803–1873, aged 70

Wikipedia
44 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1803–1873
Aged 70
Awards
1
recognised work

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He wrote "It was a dark and stormy night" — the line so bad it spawned a contest for terrible prose — but also gave English "the pen is mightier than the sword" and half a dozen phrases still in circulation.

Biography

About

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton was born 25 May 1803 and built parallel careers in letters and Parliament. He sat as a Whig MP from 1831 to 1841, then returned as a Conservative from 1851 to 1866, serving as Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859 — in which post he selected Richard Clement Moody to found British Columbia. His novels were widely read, and his coinage entered the language: "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the great unwashed", "dweller on the threshold". He was made Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866. He died 18 January 1873, leaving a body of w…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

said1835

... if the breast be uneducated, the gift may curse the giver; and he who passes at once from the slave to the freeman may pass as rapidly from the freeman to the ruffian.

— Rienzi: The Last of the Tribunes (1835), ch. 1.X

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

said1832