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
writing parent ink
Why did I write? What sin to me unknown dipped me in ink, my parents , or my own?
night dancing age
Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day, Charm'd the small-pox, or chas'd old age away; . . . . To patch, nay ogle, might become a saint, Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint.
may critics criticise
Cavil you may, but never criticise.
light criticism shade
And you, my Critics! in the chequer'd shade, Admire new light thro' holes yourselves have made.
law criticism demand
I lose my patience, and I own it too, When works are censur'd, not as bad but new; While if our Elders break all reason's laws, These fools demand not pardon but Applause.
moving perfect judging
A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit With the same spirit that its author writ: Survey the Whole, nor seek slight faults to find Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind.
writing criticism censure
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss.
passion contentment fame
Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf, Not one will change his neighbor with himself.
evil pleasure understood
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood, Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.
tree fruit pears
A pear-tree planted nigh: 'Twas charg'd with fruit that made a goodly show, And hung with dangling pears was every bough.
self years hours
One self-approving hour whole years outweighs.
villain praise censure
The villain's censure is extorted praise.
men doing-nothing way
There is but one way I know of conversing safely with all men; that is, not by concealing what we say or do, but by saying or doing nothing that deserves to be concealed.
party animal ignorant
There never was any party, faction, sect, or cabal whatsoever, in which the most ignorant were not the most violent; for a bee is not a busier animal than a blockhead.