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Ay, these young things lie safe in our hearts just so long
As their wings are in growing; and when these are strong
They break it, and farewell! the bird flies!

— Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: (Lord Lytton), Lucile (1860), Canto VI, Part II, Stanza 29.
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton

In life there are meetings which seem
Like a fate.

Lucile (1860)

Who knows nothing base
Fears nothing known.

Chronicles and Characters (1868)

As pure as a pearl,
And as perfect: a noble and innocent girl.

Lucile (1860)

Who seeks for aid
Must show how service sought can be repaid.

Chronicles and Characters (1868)

There is purpose in pain,
Otherwise it were devilish.

Lucile (1860)

Do not think that years leave us and find us the same!

Lucile (1860)

Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem.

The Wanderer (1859)

Only by knowledge of that which is not thyself, shall thyself be learned.

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Topics

Children

More quotes by Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton

Genius does what it must, and Talent does what it can.

Chronicles and Characters (1868)

There is a pleasure which is born of pain.

The Wanderer (1859)

Those true eyes
Too pure and too honest in aught to disguise
The sweet soul shining through them.

Lucile (1860)

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

Chronicles and Characters (1868)

That man is great, and he alone,
Who serves a greatness not his own.

Chronicles and Characters (1868)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.