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
heart men rakes
Men, some to business, some to pleasure take; But every woman is at heart a rake.
dog curiosity littles
How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or even for some use to us?
faults overcoming advantage
It is not so much the being exempt from faults, as having overcome them, that is an advantage to us.
fall air preparation
Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, The clamtrous lapwings feel the leaden death; Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare They fall, and leave their little lives in air.
writing goddess
And write about it, Goddess, and about it!
cease knows seasons
The season when to come, and when to go, to sing, or cease to sing, we never know.
favors dignity fame
Nor Fame I slight, nor her favors call
thinking amusement
Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.
too-late may aging
When we are young, we are slavishly employed in procuring something whereby we may live comfortably when we grow old; and when we are old, we perceive it is too late to live as we proposed.
soul speed sigh
Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.
feelings matter principles
Genuine religion is not so much a matter of feeling as a matter of principle.
life eye hair
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, forever, and forever! Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes, And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
philosophy mountain caverns
See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled, Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head! Philosophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more. Physic of Metaphysic begs defence, And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense! See Mystery to Mathematics fly!
life fighting government
For forms of government let fools contest; Whate'er is best administer'd is best. For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight; His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity.