295 Famous Quotes by Alexander Pope
5/21/1688 - 5/30/1744
Professions:
Information:
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.
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Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yarn confess
The Pains and Penalties of Idleness.
Idleness
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: The Dunciad (bk. IV, l. 341)
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And each blasphemer quite escape the rod,
Because the insult's not on man, but God?
Swearing
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Epilogue to Satires (dialogue II, l. 199)
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Alas! the small discredit of a bribe
Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.
Bribery
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Epilogue to Satire (dialogue II, l. 46)
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At length corruption, like a general flood
(So long by watchful ministers withstood),
Shall deluge all; and avarice, creeping on,
Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun.
Corruption
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Moral Essays (ep. III, l. 135)
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How shall I lose the sin yet keep the sense,
And love th' offender, yet detest the offence?
Sin
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Eloise to Abelard (l. 191)
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But Satan now is wiser than of yore,
And tempts by making rich, not making poor.
Temptation
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Moral Essays (ep. III, l. 351)
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Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;
But shall the dignity of vice be lost?
Vice
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Epilogue to Satires (dialogue I)
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Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated need but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Vice
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Essay on Man (ep. II, l. 217)
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The heart resolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the smart, but not the vice."
Vice
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Horace (bk. II, ep. II, l. 216)
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Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counsels and dark politics.
Villainy
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Temple of Fame (l. 410)
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Destroy his fib, or sophistry--in vain!
The creature's at his dirty work again.
Wickedness
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to the Satires (l. 91)
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I was not born for Courts or great affairs;
I pay my debts, believe, and say my pray'rs.
Humility
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to Satires (l. 268)
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The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about
anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to
verify my notions have only wasted my time.
Humility
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to Satires (l. 268)
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We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of
ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of
our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our
naked skins.
Humility
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to Satires (l. 268)
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But see, the shepherds shun the noonday heat,
The lowing herds to murmuring brooks retreat,
To closer shades the panting flocks remove;
Ye gods! and is there no relief for love?
Summer
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Pastorals--Summer
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Where'er you walk cool gales shall fan the glade,
Trees where you sit shall crowd into a shade.
Where'er you tread the blushing flowers shall rise,
And all things flourish where you turn your eyes.
Summer
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Pastorals--Summer
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Here, thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea.
Tea
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Rape of the Lock (canto III, l. 7)
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Whether with Reason, or with Instinct blest,
Know, all enjoy that pow'r which suits them best.
Enjoyment
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Essay on Man (ep. III, l. 79)
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Eternal smiles his emptiness betray,
As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.
Smiles
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Prologue to Satires (l. 315)
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In various talk th' instructive hours they past,
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.
Reputation
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Rape of the Lock (pt. III, l. 11), this stanza not found in his printed works
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The flying rumours gather'd as the roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it added something new.
And all who heard it made enlargements too.
Rumor
Quotes, by Alexander Pope , Source: Temple of Fame (l. 468)
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