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There are certain events which to each man's life are as comets to the earth, seemingly strange and erratic portents; distinct from the ordinary lights which guide our course and mark our seasons, yet true to their own laws, potent in their own influences.

— Edward Bulwer-Lytton What Will He Do With It? (1858)

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Fate

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)

All Edward Bulwer-Lytton quotes →

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One country, one constitution, one destiny.

Daniel Webster

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

John Lewis

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

Poul Anderson The Corridors of Time (1965)

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.