A half-open dark cigarette case rests on olive ground with a small curl of smoke rising above it.

Original artwork, not a still

Night and Morning

Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton

The man who smokes, thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker credits smoking with a benevolent effect: the smoker's mind turns wise and philosophical, and their conduct grows kind and charitable. It is a fond claim that tobacco makes a person both thoughtful and generous, offered as the speaker's view rather than established fact.

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