Tis hard to say if better want of skill, appear in speaking or in judging ill.
Alexander Pope Quotes
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, The proper study of mankind is man. Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the skeptic side, With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; […]
There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.
Honor and shame from no condition rise; act well your part, there all the honor lies.
Party is the madness of many, for the gains of a few.
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. (When Matthew Prior wrote a poem describing every poet as a fool, Pope retaliated with this verse.)
While pensive poets painful vigils keep – Sleepless themselves to give their readers sleep.
Such were the notes thy once loved poet sung, Till death untimely stopped his tuneful tongue. (to Robert, Earl of Oxford)
Is there a parson much bemused in beer, A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, A clerk foredoomed his father’s soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross?
Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease.
