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Alexander Pope
498 quotes
“A needless Alexandrine ends the song, That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 'T is not enough no harshness gives offence,-- The sound must seem an echo to the sense.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow: Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move; For fools admire, but men of sense approve.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Envy will merit as its shade pursue, But like a shadow proves the substance true.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“All seems infected that th' infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“And make each day a critic on the last.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Most authors steal their works, or buy; Garth did not write his own Dispensary.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Led by the light of the Mæonian star.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Content if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“What dire offence from amorous causes springs! What mighty contests rise from trivial things!”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you 'll forget them all.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“At every word a reputation dies.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, forever, and forever!”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said; Tie up the knocker! say I 'm sick, I 'm dead.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“E'en Sunday shines no Sabbath day to me.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Is there a parson much bemused in beer, A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross?”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Friend to my life, which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Obliged by hunger and request of friends.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Fired that the house rejects him, "'Sdeath! I 'll print it, And shame the fools.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“No creature smarts so little as a fool.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Destroy his fib or sophistry--in vain! The creature 's at his dirty work again.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Pretty! in amber to observe the forms Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms! The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare, But wonder how the devil they got there.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Means not, but blunders round about a meaning; And he whose fustian 's so sublimely bad, It is not poetry, but prose run mad.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“By flatterers besieg'd, And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd; Like Cato, give his little senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“On wings of winds came flying all abroad.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Cursed be the verse, how well so e'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“That not in fancy's maze he wander'd long, But stoop'd to truth, and moraliz'd his song.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Me let the tender office long engage To rock the cradle of reposing age; With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep awhile one parent from the sky.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source