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He is certainly a man who bathes and "lives cleanly," (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).

— Edward Bulwer-Lytton Paul Clifford (1830)

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Notes from Wikiquote

This is the origin of the rather derogatory phrase, "the great unwashed".

More quotes by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Strike from mankind the principle of Faith, and men would have no more history than a flock of sheep.

Caxtoniana (1862)

To the man who aspires to know, no man who has been the meanest student of knowledge should be unknown.

Zanoni (1842)

Truth makes on the ocean of nature no one track of light—every eye looking on finds its own.

Caxtoniana (1862)

Happy the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell!

The Last of the Barons (1843)

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.

Richelieu (1839)

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Attribution

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