535 quotes
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake;
The centre mov'd, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads.
Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell,
For sober, studious days!
A Farewell to London (1715)
Or fight or fly,
This choice is left ye, to resist or die.
The starving chemist in his golden views
Supremely blest.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Time conquers all, and we must time obey.
No craving void left aching in the soul.
See dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again;
All forms that perish other forms supply;
(By turns we catch the vital breath and die).
Why has not man a microscopic eye?
For this plain reason, Man is not a Fly.
Say, what the use, were finer optics giv'n,
T' inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav'n?
Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to Love?
Eloisa to Abelard (1717)
How the wit brightens! how the style refines!
An Essay on Criticism (1709)
In men, we various ruling passions find;
In women two almost divide the kind;
Those only fix'd, they first or last obey.
The love of pleasure, and the love of sway.
Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon.
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1727)
In vain sedate reflections we would make
When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take.
Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes;
The glorious fault of Angels and of Gods.
The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717)
The generous Critic fann'd the Poet's fire,
And taught the world with reason to admire.
An Essay on Criticism (1709)
Mark what unvary'd laws preserve each state,
Laws wise as Nature, and as fixed as Fate.
Not always actions show the man; we find
Who does a kindness is not therefore kind.
Nature made every fop to plague his brother,
Just as one beauty mortifies another.
Whatever Nature has in worth denied,
She gives in large recruits of needful Pride.
An Essay on Criticism (1709)