Art itself is essentially ethical; because every true work of art must have a beauty or grandeur of some kind, and beauty and grandeur cannot be comprehended by the beholder except through the moral sentiment. The eye is only a witness; it is not a judge. The mind judges what the eye reports to it; therefore, whatever elevates the moral sentiment to the contemplation of beauty and grandeur is in itself ethical.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonArt employs method for the symmetrical formation of beauty, as science employs it for the logical exposition of truth; but the mechanical process is, in the last, ever kept visibly distinct, while in the first it escapes from sight amid the shows of color and the curves of grace.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonTell me, sweet eyes, from what divinest star did ye drink in your liquid melancholy?
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonThat man will never be a perfect gentleman who lives only with gentlemen. To be a man of the world we must view that world in every grade and in every perspective.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonWe are born for a higher destiny than that of earth; there is a realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will be spread before us like islands that slumber on the ocean, and where the beings that pass before us like shadows will stay in our presence forever.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton