“Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, And now a bubble burst, and now a world.”
“True friendship's laws are by this rule express'd,
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.”
“Two purposes in human nature rule. Self- love to urge, and reason to restrain.”
“True disputants are like true sportsmen: their whole delight is in the pursuit.”
Source: A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published
“What's fame? a fancy'd life in other's breath. A thing beyond us, even before our death.”
Source: An essay on man ... Enlarged and improved by the author ... With the notes of William, Lord Bishop of Gloucester
“Atheists put on false courage and alacrity in the midst of their darkness and apprehensions, like children who, when they fear to go in the dark, will sing for fear.”
Source: A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published
“The scripture in times of disputes is like an open town in times of war, which serves in differently the occasions of both parties.”
“O happiness! our being's end and aim!
Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate'er thy name:
That something still which prompts the eternal sigh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die.”
“For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned.The berries crackle, and the mill turns round ... At once they gratify their scent and taste.And frequent cups prolong the rich repast... Coffee (which makes the politician wise And see through all things with his half-shut eyes).”
Source: The Major Works
“Coffee which makes the politician wise, and see through all things with his half-shut eyes.”
Source: The poetical works of Alexander Pope. With his last corrections, additions, and improvements. From the text of dr. Warburton. With the life of the author [by T. Cibber].
“Drink is the feast of reason and the flow of soul.”
“Be silent always when you doubt your sense.”
Source: The Works of Alexander Pope
“O peace! how many wars were waged in thy name.”
“Consult the genius of the place, that paints as you plant, and as you work.”
“At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.”
Source: An Essay on Criticism
“An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded.”
Source: The works
“A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal, is more than armies to the public weal.”
Source: Delphi Complete Works of Alexander Pope (Illustrated)
“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?”
Source: The Poetical works
“An obstinate person does not hold opinions; they hold them.”
“But if you'll prosper, mark what I advise, Whom age, and long experience render wise.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope. With notes by dr. Warburton
“Say first, of god above or man below; what can we reason but from what we know.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope, with notes and illustrations, by himself and others. To which are added, a new life of the author [&c.] by W. Roscoe
“A brave man thinks no one his superior who does him an injury, for he has it then in his power to make himself superior to the other by forgiving it.”
Source: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq., with Notes and Illustrations, by Himself and Others. To which are Added, a New Life of the Author, an Estimate of His Poetical Character and Writings, and Occasional Remarks by William Roscoe, Esq
“Where's the man who counsel can bestow, still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know.”
Source: Essay on Man and Other Poems
“Virtuous and vicious every man must be, few in the extreme, but all in the degree.”
Source: THE
“A disputant no more cares for the truth than the sportsman for the hare.”
Source: A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published
“Find, if you can, in what you cannot change. Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes, Tenets with books, and principles with times.”
“To rest, the cushion and soft dean invite, who never mentions hell to ears polite.”
“In faith and hope the world will disagree, but all mankind's concern is charity.”
Source: The Works: Including Several Hundred Unpublished Letters, and Other New Materials
“A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead.”
“Old men, for the most part, are like old chronicles that give you dull but true accounts of times past, and are worth knowing only on that score.”
Source: A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published
“Some praise at morning what they blame at night, but always think the last opinion right.”
“Whether the charmer sinner it, or saint it, If folly grow romantic, I must paint it.”
Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: Edited by Robert Carruthers. Illustrated by Portraits and Original Designs. In 4 Volumes
“Wit in conversation is only a readiness of thought and a facility of expression, or a quick conception and an easy delivery.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope. With a selection of explanatory notes, and the account of his life by dr. Johnson
“Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet.”
“Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes: the glorious fault of angels and of gods.”
“What bosom beast not in his country's cause?”
“But thousands die without or this or that, Die, and endow a college or a cat.”
“Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate.”
Source: An Essay on Man: In Four Epistles to H. St. John Lord Bolinbroke. To which are Added the Universal Prayer, Messiah, and Elegy
“He best can paint them who shall feel them most.”
Source: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. in Verse and Prose: Containing the Principal Notes of Drs. Warburton and Warton: Illustrations, and Critical and Explanatory Remarks, by Johnson, Wakefield, A. Chalmers ... and Others; to which are Added, Now First Published, Some Original Letters, with Additional Observations, and Memoirs of the Life of the Author
“Fondly we think we honor merit then, when we but praise ourselves in other men.”
Source: An Essay on Criticism
“He who serves his brother best gets nearer God than all the rest.”
“Education forms the common mind.”
“The sound must seem an echo to the sense.”
“Get place and wealth, if possible with grace; if not, by any means get wealth and place.”
“In death a hero, as in life a friend!”
Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: In 1 volume
“True wit is nature to advantage dressed;
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.”
“Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know.”
Source: The Iliad of Homer
“Cursed be the verse, how well so e'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe.”
Source: Poetical works
“A generous friendship no cold medium knows, Burns with one love, with one resentment glows.”
Source: The Iliad of Homer
“No louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, When husbands or lap-dogs breathe their last.”
Source: Alexander Pope: Selected Poetry and Prose
