The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (351 page)

Pope, Alexander
1688–1744

1
Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale.

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 1, l. 52

2
All crowd, who foremost shall be damned to Fame.

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 3, l. 158

3
A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 4, l. 90

4
The Right Divine of Kings to govern wrong.

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 4, l. 187

5
Stretched on the rack of a too easy chair.

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 4, l. 343

6
Thy truffles, Perigord! thy hams, Bayonne!

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 4, l. 558

7
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.

The Dunciad
(1742) bk. 4, l. 653

8
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" (1730).

9
On all the line a sudden vengeance waits,
And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates.

"Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" (1717) l. 37

10
How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense,
And love th'offender, yet detest th'offence?

"Eloisa to Abelard" (1717) l. 191.

11
You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come:
Knock as you please, there's nobody at home.

"Epigram: You beat your pate" (1732)

12
I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray, tell me sir, whose dog are you?

"Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog which I gave to his Royal Highness" (1738)

13
Sir, I admit your gen'ral rule
That every poet is a fool:
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.

"Epigram from the French" (1732)

14
You think this cruel? take it for a rule,
No creature smarts so little as a fool.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 83

15
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 127

16
The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife,
To help me through this long disease, my life.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 131

17
And he, whose fustian's so sublimely bad,
It is not poetry, but prose run mad.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 187

18
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.
of Addison

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 201.

19
"Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?"
of Lord Hervey

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 307

20
Unlearn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art,
No language, but the language of the heart.
of his own father

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 398

21
Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside,
A teeming mistress, but a barren bride.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To a Lady" (1735) l. 71

22
See how the world its veterans rewards!
A youth of frolics, an old age of cards.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To a Lady" (1735) l. 243

23
And mistress of herself, though china fall.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To a Lady" (1735) l. 268

24
Who shall decide, when doctors disagree?

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Bathurst" (1733) l. 1

25
Die, and endow a college, or a cat.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Bathurst" (1733) l. 98

26
The ruling passion, be it what it will,
The ruling passion conquers reason still.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Bathurst" (1733) l. 155.

27
Consult the genius of the place in all.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 57.

28
To rest, the cushion and soft Dean invite,
Who never mentions Hell to ears polite.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 149

29
Deep harvests bury all his pride has planned,
And laughing Ceres re-assume the land.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 175

30
'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 179

31
Search then the Ruling Passion: There, alone,
The wild are constant, and the cunning known;
The fool consistent, and the false sincere.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Cobham" (1734) l. 174.

32
Odious! in woollen! 'twould a saint provoke!

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Cobham" (1734) l. 242

33
Old politicians chew on wisdom past,
And totter on in business to the last.

Epistles to Several Persons
"To Lord Cobham" (1734) l. 248

34
She went, to plain-work, and to purling brooks,
Old-fashioned halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks.

"Epistle to Miss Blount, on her leaving the Town, after the Coronation [of King George I, 1715]" (1717)

35
Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,
Court the slow clock, and dine exact at noon.

"Epistle to Miss Blount, on her leaving the Town, after the Coronation [of King George I, 1715]" (1717)

36
Nature, and Nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said,
Let Newton be!
and all was light.

"Epitaph: Intended for Sir Isaac Newton" (1730).

37
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 215.

38
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 232

39
True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 297

40
Expression is the dress of thought.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 318

41
As some to church repair,
Not for the doctrine, but the music there.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 342

42
A needless Alexandrine ends the song,
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 356

43
Some praise at morning what they blame at night;
But always think the last opinion right.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 430

44
To err is human; to forgive, divine.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 525

45
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

An Essay on Criticism
(1711) l. 625

46
Eye Nature's walks, shoot Folly as it flies,
And catch the Manners living as they rise.
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can;
But vindicate the ways of God to man.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 13.

47
Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 83

48
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never Is, but always To be blest.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 95

49
Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 99

50
Why has not man a microscopic eye?
For this plain reason, man is not a fly.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 193

51
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 217

52
And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,
One truth is clear, "Whatever
is
, is
right
."

An Essay on Man
Epistle 1 (1733) l. 293

53
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 2 (1733) l. 1

54
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

An Essay on Man
Epistle 2 (1733) l. 15

55
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 2 (1733) l. 275

56
For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administered is best.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 3 (1733) l. 303

57
Thus God and nature linked the gen'ral frame,
And bade self-love and social be the same.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 3 (1733) l. 317;
An Essay on Man
Epistle 4 (1734) l. 396 is similar

58
An honest man's the noblest work of God.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 4 (1734) l. 248.

59
All our knowledge is, ourselves to know.

An Essay on Man
Epistle 4 (1734) l. 398

60
Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing!

translation of
The Iliad
(1715) bk. 1, l. 1.

61
For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best,
Welcome the coming, speed the going guest.

Imitations of Horace
Horace bk. 2, Satire 2 (1734) l. 159; Pope's translation of
The Odyssey
(1725–6) bk. 15, l. 84, has "Speed the parting guest"

62
Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace;
If not, by any means get wealth and place.

Imitations of Horace
Horace bk. 1, Epistle 1 (1738) l. 103.

63
Not to admire, is all the art I know,
To make men happy, and to keep them so.

Imitations of Horace
Horace bk. 1, Epistle 6 (1738) l. 1.

64
The people's voice is odd,
It is, and it is not, the voice of God.

Imitations of Horace
Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 89.

65
But those who cannot write, and those who can,
All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man.
Imitations of Horace
Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 187
66
Ev'n copious Dryden, wanted, or forgot,
The last and greatest art, the art to blot.

Imitations of Horace
Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 280.