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
laughter ambition son
Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise. By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies? Heav'n still with laughter the vain toil surveys, And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.
ocean ambition hands
Who know but He, whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind.
giving charity littles
I as little fear that God will damn a person who has charity as I hope that the priests can save one who has not.
christian believe sleep
See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep, And all the western world believe and sleep.
sculpture grew marble
Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.
art rocks sculpture
Then sculpture and her sister arts revived; stones leaped to form, and rocks began to live.
home charity fool
Fool, 'tis in vain from wit to wit to roam: Know, sense, like charity, begins at home.
use splendor rays
Tis use alone that sanctifies expense And splendor borrow all her rays from sense.
self heaven silence
Silence! coeval with eternity! thou wert ere Nature's self began to be; thine was the sway ere heaven was formed on earth, ere fruitful thought conceived creation's birth.
sky light spirit
Know then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly, The light Militia of the lower sky.
expression purple style
Expression is the dress of thought, and still Appears more decent as more suitable; A vile conceit in pompous words express'd, Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd.
play water flow
And soften'd sounds along the waters die: Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play.
hands grace masters
Music resembles poetry, in each Are nameless graces which no methods teach, And which a master hand alone can reach.
business nice often-is
A person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labor of bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.