Alexander Pope Quotes

True Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd;
Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.
As shades more sweetly recommend the light,
So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.

Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss

Lo these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd, And curs'd with hearts unknowing how to yield. Thus unlamented pass the proud away, The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day! So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow For others' good, or melt at others' woe.

A person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labour of the bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.

Where, one step broken, the great scale’s destroyed: From Nature’s chain whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.

Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began A mighty hunter, and his prey was man.

Death, only death, can break the lasting chain;
And here, ev'n then, shall my cold dust remain

Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;
Those best can bear reproof who merit praise.

Each finding like a friend
Something to blame, and something to commend.

Words are like Leaves; and where they most abound,
Much Fruit of Sense beneath is rarely found.

Party is the madness of many, for the gain of a few.

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurled,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

The garlands fade, the vows are worn away; So dies her love, and so my hopes decay.

The proper study of Mankind is Man

The fool is happy that he knows no more