Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Popewas an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his satirical verse, as well as for his translation of Homer. Famous for his use of the heroic couplet, he is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth21 May 1688
divine form humans
No more was seen the human form divine.
acting pits monsters
There still remains to mortify a wit The many-headed monster of the pit.
learning style strange
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd and make the learned smile.
learning views may
Content if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew.
erring chance discord
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see
gratitude eye yellow
All looks yellow to a jaundiced eye.
painting paint feels
He best can paint them who shall feel them most.
nature tongue advantage
True wit is nature to advantage dressed, what oft was thought, but never so well expressed.
friendship philosopher guides
Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend.
strength time passion
Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.
father beer soul
Is there a parson much bemused in beer, a maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, a clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, who pens a stanza when he should engross?
echoes sound seems
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
wine soul flow
Drink is the feast of reason and the flow of soul.
motivation lying excuse
An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded.