Quotes by Alexander Pope

“Then say not man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault;. Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought.”

“Trust not yourself; but your defects to know,Make use of ev'ry friendand ev'ry foe.”

“Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescrib'd, their present state; From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: Or who could suffer Being here below? The lamb ...”

“Ye sacred nine”

“Those half-learn'd witlings, num'rous in our isle As half-form'd insects on the banks of Nile”

“For forms of Government let fools contest. Whate'er is best administered is best.”

“There is no study that is not capable of delighting us, after a little application to it.”

“Nature to all things fixed the limits fitAnd wisely curbed proud man's pretending wit.As on the land while here the ocean gains.In other parts it leaves wide sandy plainsThus in the soul while memo...”

“Philosophy, that leaned on Heaven before,Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more.”

“We may see the small Value God has for Riches, by the People he gives the”

“Poetic justice, with her lifted scale,Where, in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs,And solid pudding against empty praise. Here she beholds the chaos dark and deep,Where nameless somethings i...”

“Know thy own point: this kind, this due degreeOf blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee.”

“Make use of every friend and every foe.”

“The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and pretending to more perfection, is the cause of Man's error and misery.”

“Let Sporus tremble "What? that thing of silk, Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk?Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?Who breaks a Butterfly upon a Wheel?"Yet let me flap this Bug with g...”

“Inscriptions here of various Names I view'd,The greater part by hostile time subdu'd;Yet wide was spread their fame in ages past,And Poets once had promis'd they should last.”

“Presumptuous Man! the reason wouldst thou find,Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind?First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess,Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less!Ask of thy mother...”

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

“For when success a lover's toil attends,Few ask, if fraud or force attain'd his ends”

“Most critics, fond of subservient artstill make the whole depend upon a part.They talk of principles, but notions prizeAnd all to one loved folly sacrifice.”