Alexander Pope Quotes
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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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What beck'ning ghost, along the moonlight shade Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?
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On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
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Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.
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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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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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Party is the madness of many, for the gain of a few.
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From old Belerium to the northern main.
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Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water seem to strive again, Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised, But, as the world, harmoniously confused: Where order in variety we see, And where, though all things differ, all agree.
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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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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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Nothing can be more shocking and horrid than one of our kitchens sprinkled with blood, and abounding with the cries of expiring victims, or with the limbs of dead animals scattered or hung up here and there. It gives one the image of a giant's den in a romance, bestrewed with scattered heads and mangled limbs.
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To be angry, is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves.
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Well, if our author in the wife offendsHe has a husband that will make amends;He draws him gentle, tender, and forgiving,And sure such kind good creatures may be living.
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If I am right, Thy grace import Still in the right to stay; If I am wrong, oh teach my heart To find that better way!
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So unaffected, so compos'd a mind; So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so retin'd; Heav'n, as its purest gold, by tortures try'd; The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.
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For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.
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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.
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The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, forever, and forever! Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes, And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
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Dear, damned, distracting town, farewell! Thy fools no more I'll tease: This year in peace, ye critics, dwell, Ye harlots, sleep at ease!
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On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates.
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Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes.
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Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide, Or gave his father grief but when he died.