535 quotes
Led by the light of the Mæonian star.
An Essay on Criticism (1709)
And not a vanity is given in vain.
Die and endow a college or a cat.
Hoary whiskers and a forky beard.
The Rape of the Lock (1712)
Jove, thou regent of the skies.
From loveless youth to unrespected age,
No passion gratified, except her rage,
So much the fury still outran the wit,
That pleasure miss'd her, and the scandal hit.
Vital spark of heav'nly flame!
Expression is the dress of thought, and still
Appears more decent as more suitable;
A vile conceit in pompous words express'd,
Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd.
An Essay on Criticism (1709)
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
Their shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
An Essay on Criticism (1711)
Heav'n forming each on other to depend,
A master, or a servant, or a friend,
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.
Heaven forming each on other to depend,
A master, or a servant, or a friend,
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.
What woful stuff this madrigal would be,
In some starv'd hackney sonneteer or me!
But let a lord once own the happy lines,
How the wit brightens! how the style refines.
An Essay on Criticism (1709)
Search then the ruling passion; there alone,
The wild are constant, and the cunning known;
The fool consistent, and the false sincere;
Priests, princes, women, no dissemblers here.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk, and speckled snake;
Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey,
And, with their forked tongue, shall innocently play.
Messiah (1712)
Where grows?—where grows it not? If vain our toil,
We ought to blame the culture, not the soil.
Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,
And makes night hideous;—Answer him, ye owls!
The Dunciad (1813)
Why will you break the Sabbath of my days?
Now sick alike of Envy and of Praise.
Ask you what provocation I have had?
The strong antipathy of good to bad.
Vital spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
The Dying Christian to His Soul (1712)
Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yawn confess
The Pains and Penalties of Idleness.