Alexander Pope Quotes

So when the faithful pencil has design'd
Some bright idea of the master's mind,
Where a new world leaps out at his command,
And ready Nature waits upon his hand;
When the ripe colours soften and unite,
And sweetly melt into just shade and light;
When mellowing years their full perfection give,
And each bold figure just begins to live,
The treacherous colours the fair art betray,
And all the bright creation fades away!

Your silence there is better than your spite,
For who can rail so long as they can write?

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Let such, such only tread this sacred floor, Who dare to love their country and be poor.

Some old men, by continually praising the time of their youth, would almost persuade us that there were no fools in those days; but unluckily they are left themselves for examples.

Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine;
Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie.

I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me sir, whose dog are you?

While pensive poets painful vigils keep,
Sleepless themselves, to give their readers sleep.

Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride! They had no poet, and they died. In vain they schem'd, in vain they bled! They had no poet, and are dead.

Of these am I, who thy protection claim, A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.
Late, as I rang'd the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear mirror of thy ruling star
I saw, alas! some dread event impend,
Ere to the main this morning sun descend,
But Heav'n reveals not what, or how, or where: Warn'd by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware!

LO! THY DREAD EMPIRE, CHAOS! IS RESTOR’D; LIGHT DIES BEFORE THY UNCREATING WORD; THY HAND, GREAT ANARCH! LETS THE CURTAIN FALL; AND UNIVERSAL DARKNESS BURIES ALL

Honor and shame from no condition rise. Act well your part: there all the honor lies.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.

Know, sense, like charity, begins at home.