Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Ten censure wrong, for one that writes amiss.

Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism

Alexander Pope, Letter to Gay, October 6, 1727

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Alexander Pope, Letter to Gay, October 6, 1727

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1711

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1711

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

A family is but too often a commonwealth of malignants.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope, "Ode to Solitude"

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; thus unlamented let me die; steal from the world, and not a stone tell where I lie.

Alexander Pope, "Ode to Solitude"

Alexander Pope, (1712?)

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Alexander Pope, (1712?)

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope, Essay on Man

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue,
But, like the shadow, proves the substance true.

Alexander Pope, Essay on Man

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Be thou the first true merit to befriend, his praise is lost who stays till all commend.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

To err is human, to forgive divine.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

Alexander Pope, An essay on Criticism

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

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.

Alexander Pope, An essay on Criticism

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

An honest man is the noblest work of God.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

And all who told it added something new, And all who heard it made enlargements too.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

What will a child learn sooner than a song?

Alexander Pope