“Man never thinks himself happy, but when he enjoys those things which others want or desire.”
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Famous Alexander Pope Quotes
“The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read With loads of learned lumber in his head.”
“They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.”
Source: Poetical works
“A work of art that contains theories is like an object on which the price tag has been left.”
“Lo! The poor Indian, whose untutored mind sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.”
“The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.”
“Extremes in nature equal ends produce; In man they join to some mysterious use.”
Source: Moral essays
“Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.”
“Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit a man; Simplicity, a child.”
“On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale.”
Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: With a Sketch of the Author's Life
Source: The works of Alexander Pope. With a selection of explanatory notes, and the account of his life by dr. Johnson
“Remembrance and reflection how allied. What thin partitions divides sense from thought.”
“There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope. Containing the principal notes of drs. Warburton and Warton [&c.]. To which are added, some original letters, with additional observations, and memoirs, by W.L. Bowles
“'Tis not enough your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do.”
Source: An Essay on Criticism
“And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.”
Source: Poetical works
“Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.”
“Know then this truth, enough for man to know virtue alone is happiness below.”
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
“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.”
“Like Cato, give his little senate laws, and sit attentive to his own applause.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope, with remarks and illustrations. By G. Wakefield
“Lo, what huge heaps of littleness around!”
Source: The Works of Alexander Pope Esq
“Never was it given to mortal man - To lie so boldly as we women can.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope. With notes by dr. Warburton
“One science only will one genius fit; so vast is art, so narrow human wit.”
Source: The works of Alexander Pope; with a memoir of the author, notes [&c.] by G. Croly
“Party-spirit at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.”
“Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God.”
“The same ambition can destroy or save, and make a patriot as it makes a knave.”
Source: The Leaser. Being a Selection from the Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, with an Account of His Life and Writings
“The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg.”
Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, being the prologue to the satires. Satires, epistles, and odes of Horace imitated. Epitaphs. The Dunciad, in four books
“To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th' observer's sake.”
“Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever.”
“Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.”
Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Etc
“What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone.”
Source: Poetical works
“Death, only death, can break the lasting chain; And here, ev'n then, shall my cold dust remain”
Source: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: In Three Volumes Complete : with His Last Corrections, Additions, and Improvements, Together with All His Notes, as They Were Delivered to the Editor a Little Before His Death : Together with the Commentary and Notes of Mr. Warburton
Source: The poems of Alexander Pope
“You purchase pain with all that joy can give and die of nothing but a rage to live.”
Source: The poems of Alexander Pope
“Words are like Leaves; and where they most abound, Much Fruit of Sense beneath is rarely found.”
Source: Poetical works
“Our judgments, like our watches, none go just alike, yet each believes his own”
Source: Essay on Man and Other Poems
“I am his Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?”
Source: An essay on man: By Alexander Pope, Esq. Enlarged and improved by the author. Together with his MS. additions and variations as in the last edition of his works. With the notes of William, Lord Bishop of Gloucester