The proper study of Mankind is Man.
ALEXANDER POPE And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in a masquerade.
ALEXANDER POPE Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed was the ninth beatitude.
ALEXANDER POPE The ruling passion, be it what it will. The ruling passion conquers reason still.
ALEXANDER POPE Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest.
ALEXANDER POPE So vast is art, so narrow human wit.
ALEXANDER POPE The most positive men are the most credulous.
ALEXANDER POPE Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.
ALEXANDER POPE How happy is the blameless vestal's lot? The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
ALEXANDER POPE And die of nothing but a rage to live.
ALEXANDER POPE Act well your part, there all the honour lies.
ALEXANDER POPE A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
ALEXANDER POPE The greatest magnifying glasses in the world are a man's own eyes when they look upon his own pe...
ALEXANDER POPE Never find fault with the absent.
ALEXANDER POPE A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead.
ALEXANDER POPE Teach me to feel another's woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy...
ALEXANDER POPE On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale.
ALEXANDER POPE Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
ALEXANDER POPE Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
ALEXANDER POPE Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told;And all who told it, added something new,And all who hear...
ALEXANDER POPE See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled,
Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head!
Philos...
ALEXANDER POPE Good God! how often are we to die before we go quite off this stage? In every friend we lose a part ...
ALEXANDER POPE Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there, Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair, And h...
ALEXANDER POPE It is part of the cure to wish to be cured. [Lat., Pars sanitatis velle sanari fruit.]
ALEXANDER POPE The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.
ALEXANDER POPE 'Tis not enough your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do.
ALEXANDER POPE How index-learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tale.
ALEXANDER POPE Reason, however able, cool at best, Cares not for service, or but serves when prest, Stays til...
ALEXANDER POPE Say first, of God above or man below, What can we reason but from what we know?
ALEXANDER POPE A man should never be ashamed to own that he is wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is...
ALEXANDER POPE Lely on animated canvas stole The sleepy eye, that spoke the melting soul.
ALEXANDER POPE He best can paint them who shall feel them most.
ALEXANDER POPE Wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
ALEXANDER POPE If, presume not to God to scan; The proper study of Mankind is Man. Plac'd on this isthmus of a midd...
ALEXANDER POPE But if We have such another victory, we are undone.
ALEXANDER POPE The heart resolves this matter in a trice, "Men only feel the smart, but not the vice."
ALEXANDER POPE Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast; But shall the dignity of vice be lost?
ALEXANDER POPE Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.
ALEXANDER POPE What riches give us let us then inquire: Meat, fire, and clothes. What more? Meat, clothes, and ...
ALEXANDER POPE Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace; If not, by any means get wealth and place.
ALEXANDER POPE One science only will one genius fit; so vast is art, so narrow human wit.
ALEXANDER POPE Zeal is very blind, or badly regulated, when it encroaches upon the rights of others.
ALEXANDER POPE Poets heap virtues, painters gems, at will, And show their zeal, and hide their want of skill.
ALEXANDER POPE But Satan now is wiser than of yore, and tempts by making rich, not making poor.
ALEXANDER POPE Know then this truth, enough for man to know virtue alone is happiness below.
ALEXANDER POPE Most women have no characters at all.
ALEXANDER POPE Learn to live well, or fairly make your will;
you played, and loved, and ate, and drunk your fil...
ALEXANDER POPE Most authors steal their works, or buy.
ALEXANDER POPE Why did I write? What sin to me unknown dipped me in ink, my parents , or my own?
ALEXANDER POPE True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learned to dance. 'T...
ALEXANDER POPE Fix'd like a plan on his peculiar spot, to draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.
ALEXANDER POPE The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head,
With his own ...
ALEXANDER POPE I find myself... hoping a total end of all the unhappy divisions of mankind by party-spirit, which a...
ALEXANDER POPE They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.
ALEXANDER POPE Know then thyself; presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.
ALEXANDER POPE 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
ALEXANDER POPE Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne.
ALEXANDER POPE We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philoso...
ALEXANDER POPE Behold the child, by nature's kindly law, pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
ALEXANDER POPE Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honor lies.
ALEXANDER POPE Education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.
ALEXANDER POPE Did some more sober critics come abroad? If wrong, I smil'd; if right, I kiss'd the rod.
ALEXANDER POPE Be not the first by which a new thing is tried, or the last to lay the old aside.
ALEXANDER POPE In Words, as Fashions, the same Rule will hold;
Alike Fantastick, if too New, or Old;
Be not t...
ALEXANDER POPE Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon.
ALEXANDER POPE A little learning is a dangerous thing.
ALEXANDER POPE 'Tis education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd.
ALEXANDER POPE Others import yet nobler arts from France, Teach kings to fiddle, and make senates dance.
ALEXANDER POPE In Faith and Hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity.
ALEXANDER POPE A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.
ALEXANDER POPE To err is human, to forgive, divine.
ALEXANDER POPE Sure of their qualities and demanding praise, more go to ruined fortunes than are raised.
ALEXANDER POPE At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.
ALEXANDER POPE Fondly we think we honor merit then, When we but praise ourselves in other men.
ALEXANDER POPE Praise undeserved, is satire in disguise.
ALEXANDER POPE Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
ALEXANDER POPE Men dream of courtship, but in wedlock wake.
ALEXANDER POPE Let sinful bachelors their woes deplore; full well they merit all they feel, and more: unaw by prece...
ALEXANDER POPE Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain; awake...
ALEXANDER POPE From pride, from pride, our very reas
ALEXANDER POPE The ruling passion, be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still.
ALEXANDER POPE Passions are the gales of life.
ALEXANDER POPE An obstinate person does not hold opinions; they hold them.
ALEXANDER POPE All nature is but art unknown to thee.
ALEXANDER POPE All seems infected that the infected spy,
As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.
ALEXANDER POPE For virtue's self may too much zeal be had; the worst of madmen is a saint run mad.
ALEXANDER POPE But thousands die without or this or that, die, and endow a college, or a cat: To some, indeed, Heav...
ALEXANDER POPE Trust not yourself, but your defects to know, make use of every friend and every foe.
ALEXANDER POPE True wit is nature to advantage dressed, what oft was thought, but never so well expressed.
ALEXANDER POPE Wit is the lowest form of humor.
ALEXANDER POPE True politeness consists in being easy one's self, and in making every one about one as easy as one ...
ALEXANDER POPE Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this...
ALEXANDER POPE A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; There shallow d...
ALEXANDER POPE A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
There sha...
ALEXANDER POPE Curse on all laws, but those that love has made.
ALEXANDER POPE In lazy apathy let stoics boast
Their virtue fix
ALEXANDER POPE You beat your Pate, and fancy Wit will come: Knock as you please, there's no body at home.
ALEXANDER POPE Two purposes in human nature rule. Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain.
ALEXANDER POPE Let me tell you I am better acquainted with you for a long absence, as men are with themselves for a...
ALEXANDER POPE Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
ALEXANDER POPE Never elated when someone's oppressed, never dejected when another one's blessed.
ALEXANDER POPE True disputants are like true sportsman: their whole delight is in the pursuit.
ALEXANDER POPE When much dispute has past, we find our tenets just the same as last.
ALEXANDER POPE I am his Highness dog at Kew; pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
ALEXANDER POPE Hither the heroes and nymphs resort,
To taste awhile the pleasures of a court;
In various talk...
ALEXANDER POPE Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
ALEXANDER POPE What's fame? a fancy'd life in other's breath. A thing beyond us, even before our death.
ALEXANDER POPE I was not born for courts and great affairs, but I pay my debts, believe and say my prayers.
ALEXANDER POPE Health consists with temperance alone.
ALEXANDER POPE Act well your part; there all honor lies.
ALEXANDER POPE An honest man's the noblest work of God.
ALEXANDER POPE Satan is wiser now than before, and tempts by making rich instead of poor.
ALEXANDER POPE For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best.
ALEXANDER POPE And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.
ALEXANDER POPE We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow. Our wiser sons, no doubt will think us so.
ALEXANDER POPE The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.
ALEXANDER POPE Many people are capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.
ALEXANDER POPE How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, and love the offender, yet detest the offence?
ALEXANDER POPE To err is human; to forgive, divine.
ALEXANDER POPE The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
ALEXANDER POPE It is with our judgments as with our watches: no two go just alike, yet each believes his own.
ALEXANDER POPE Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer; ALEXANDER POPE By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned; By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned.
ALEXANDER POPE To endeavor to work upon the vulgar with fine sense is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.
ALEXANDER POPE Our rural ancestors, with little blest,
Patient of labour when the end was rest,
Indulged th...
ALEXANDER POPE Order is Heaven's first law; and this confessed, some are, and must be, greater than the rest, more ...
ALEXANDER POPE Teach me to feel another's woe. To hide the fault I see: That the mercy I show to others; that mercy...
ALEXANDER POPE Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
ALEXANDER POPE An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded.
ALEXANDER POPE Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
ALEXANDER POPE One who is too wise an observer of the business of others, like one who is too curious in observing ...
ALEXANDER POPE Why has not man a microscopic eye? For the plain reason man is not a fly.
ALEXANDER POPE How happy is the blameless vestal's lot? The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
ALEXANDER POPE Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored; dies before thy uncreating word: thy hand, great Anarch! l...
ALEXANDER POPE Fools admire, but men of sense approve.
ALEXANDER POPE On wrongs swift vengeance waits.
ALEXANDER POPE Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly!
ALEXANDER POPE Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.
ALEXANDER POPE The starving chemist in his golden views Supremely blest.
ALEXANDER POPE Here Ceres' gifts in waving prospect stand, And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand.
ALEXANDER POPE Our rural ancestors with little blest, Patient of labour when the end was rest, Indulg'd the d...
ALEXANDER POPE In cold December fragrant chaplets blow, And heavy harvests nod beneath the snow.
ALEXANDER POPE The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg.
ALEXANDER POPE Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.
ALEXANDER POPE Condition, circumstance, is not the thing; Bliss is the same in subject or in king.
ALEXANDER POPE To Kerke the narre, from God more farre.
ALEXANDER POPE Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame, Will never mark the marble with his Name.
ALEXANDER POPE No silver saints, by dying misers giv'n, Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heav'n; But such...
ALEXANDER POPE On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale.
ALEXANDER POPE There goes a saying, and 'twas shrewdly said, Old fish at table, but young flesh in bed.
ALEXANDER POPE Ask you what provocation I have had? The strong antipathy of good to bad.
ALEXANDER POPE Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
ALEXANDER POPE The blest to-day is as completely so, As who began a thousand years ago.
ALEXANDER POPE Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
ALEXANDER POPE Hear how the birds, on ev'ry blooming spray, With joyous musick wake the dawning day.
ALEXANDER POPE Ye flowers that drop, forsaken by the spring, Ye birds that, left by summer, cease to sing, Ye...
ALEXANDER POPE Where round some mould'ring tow'r pale ivy creeps, And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deep...
ALEXANDER POPE Accept a miracle; instead of wit,-- See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ.
ALEXANDER POPE I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.
ALEXANDER POPE In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere and rush into the skies. P...
ALEXANDER POPE A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
ALEXANDER POPE Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.
ALEXANDER POPE Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land.
ALEXANDER POPE Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme, The air-built castle, and the golden dream, ...
ALEXANDER POPE In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew?
ALEXANDER POPE What dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs, What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things.
ALEXANDER POPE No question is ever settled Until it is settled right.
ALEXANDER POPE See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep, And all the western world believe and sleep.
ALEXANDER POPE Where London's column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies.
ALEXANDER POPE One science only will one genius fit, So vast is art, so narrow human wit.
ALEXANDER POPE True politeness consists in being easy one's self, and in making every one about one as easy as one ...
ALEXANDER POPE Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
ALEXANDER POPE Pleas'd to the last he crops the flowery food, And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
ALEXANDER POPE One who is too wise an observer of the business of others, like one who is too curious in observing...
ALEXANDER POPE The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that ...
ALEXANDER POPE Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
ALEXANDER POPE Alas! the small discredit of a bribe Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.
ALEXANDER POPE How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!
ALEXANDER POPE Obliged by hunger and request of friends.
ALEXANDER POPE Like Cato, give his little senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause.
ALEXANDER POPE The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
ALEXANDER POPE What beck'ning ghost along the moonlight shade Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?
ALEXANDER POPE Soft o'er the shrouds aerial whispers breathe, That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath.
ALEXANDER POPE And soften'd sounds along the waters die: Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play.
ALEXANDER POPE Lull'd by soft zephyrs thro' the broken pane.
ALEXANDER POPE Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows.
ALEXANDER POPE The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death, Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath.
ALEXANDER POPE I have more zeal than wit.
ALEXANDER POPE Zeal then, not charity, became the guide.
ALEXANDER POPE The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.
ALEXANDER POPE Not chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmoniously confused: Where o...
ALEXANDER POPE Order is Heaven's first law; and this confess, Some are and must be greater than the rest.
ALEXANDER POPE For fools admire, but me of sense approve.
ALEXANDER POPE Blessed is he who expects nothing for he shall never be disappointed.
ALEXANDER POPE At length corruption, like a general flood (So long by watchful ministers withstood), Shall de...
ALEXANDER POPE You purchase pain with all that joy can give, And die of nothing but a rage to live.
ALEXANDER POPE One who is too wise an observer of the business of others, like one who is too curious in observing...
ALEXANDER POPE Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather and prunello.
ALEXANDER POPE Fine by defect, and delicately weak.
ALEXANDER POPE Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master, or a servant, or a friend, Bids each on othe...
ALEXANDER POPE