295 Famous Quotes by Alexander Pope
5/21/1688 - 5/30/1744
Professions:
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About Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. Famous for his use of the heroic couplet, he is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson.
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees.
Providence
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Essay on Man (ep. I, l. 271)
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Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.
Providence
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Essay on Man (ep. I, l. 87)
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Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole;
How here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd snug,
And suck'd all o'er like an industrious bug.
Plagiarism
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: The Dunciad (bk. I, l. 127)
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With him most authors steal their works, or buy;
Garth did not write his own Dispensary.
Plagiarism
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Essay on Criticism (l. 618)
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Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;
Those best can fear reproof who merit praise.
Anger
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Essay on Criticism (l. 582)
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Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend,
A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend.
Satire
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to Satires (l. 201)
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There are, to whom my satire seems too bold;
Scarce to wise Peter complaisant enough,
And something said of Chartres much too rough.
Satire
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Second Book of Horace (satire I, l. 2)
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Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet
To run amuck and tilt at all I meet.
Satire
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Second Book of Horace (satire I, l. 71)
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Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace;
If not, by any means get wealth and place.
Wealth
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Epistles of Horace (ep. I, bk. I, l. 103)
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What riches give us let us then inquire:
Meat, fire, and clothes. What more? Meat, clothes, and fire.
Is this too little?
Wealth
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Moral Essays (ep. III, l. 79)
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What nature wants, commodious gold bestows;
'Tis thus we cut the bread another sows.
Gold
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Moral Essay (ep. III, l. 21)
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Who sees pale Mammom pine amidst his store,
Sees but a backward steward for the poor.
Mammon
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Moral Essays (ep. III, l. 171)
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'Tis strange the miser should his cares employ
To gain those riches he can ne'er enjoy;
Is it less strange the prodigal should waste
His wealth to purchase what he ne'er can taste?
Misers
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Moral Essays (ep. IV, l. 1)
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Ye flowers that drop, forsaken by the spring,
Ye birds that, left by summer, cease to sing,
Ye trees that fade, when Autumn heats remove,
Say, is not absence death to those who love?
Autumn
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Pastorals--Autumn (l. 27)
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Thus sung the shepherds till th' approach of night,
The skies yet blushing with departing light,
When falling dews with spangles deck'd the glade,
And the low sun had lengthened every shade.
Autumn
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Pastorals--Autumn (last lines)
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Like Cato, give his little senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own applause.
Applause
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to the Satires (l. 207)
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Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme,
The air-built castle, and the golden dream,
The maid's romantic wish, the chemist's flame,
And poet's vision of eternal fame.
Visions
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: The Dunciad (bk. III, l. 9)
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And soften'd sounds along the waters die:
Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play.
Zephyrs
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Rape of the Lock (canto II, l. 50)
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Soft o'er the shrouds aerial whispers breathe,
That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath.
Zephyrs
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Rape of the Lock (canto II, l. 58)
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The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death,
Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath.
Zephyrs
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Winter (l. 45)
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Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire.
Fire
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Epistle to Mrs. Teresa Blount, on her leaving the Town after the Coronation
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