Alexander Pope Quotes
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Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, The clam'rous lapwings feel the leaden death; Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare, They fall, and leave their little lives in air.
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'Boast not my fall (he cried), insulting foe! Thou by some other shalt be laid as low; Nor think to die dejects my lofty mind; All that I dread is leaving you behind! Rather than so, ah let me still survive, And burn in Cupid's flames - but burn alive.'
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I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets. What we call a Genius, is hard to be distinguish'd by a man himself, from a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he can not at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken.
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Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon.
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True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.
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Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began A mighty hunter, and his prey was man.
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Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
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What beck'ning ghost, along the moonlight shade Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?
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Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child.
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Our passions are like convulsion-fits, which, though they make us stronger for the time, leave us the weaker ever after.
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Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell, For sober, studious days!
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On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates.
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To be angry, is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves.
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Say, is not absence death to those who love?
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'Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed' was the ninth Beatitude which a man of wit (who, like a man of wit, was a long time in gaol) added to the eighth.
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A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,And drinking largely sobers us again.
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The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd, Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told; And all who told it, added something new, And all who heard it, made Enlargements too, In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew.
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Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.
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I think it was a generous thought, and one that fow'd from an exalted mind, that it was not improbable but God might be delighted with the various methods of worshipping him, which divided the whole world.
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Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes.
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The world recedes; it disappears! Heav'n opens on my eyes! my ears With sounds seraphic ring! Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! O grave! where is thy victory? O death! where is thy sting?
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Vital spark of heav'nly flame! Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame: Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying, Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
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Such were the notes thy once lov'd poet sung, Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.
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Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown; O grant an honest fame, or grant me none!