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
being-strong exercise mind
In lazy apathy let stoics boast, their virtue fix'd: 't is fix'd as in a frost; contracted all, retiring to the breast; but strength of mind is exercise, not rest.
strong men growth
Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd, Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd.
strong asks provocation
Ask you what provocation I have had? The strong antipathy of good to bad.
strong men thinking
I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets. What we call a Genius, is hard to be distinguish'd by a man himself, from a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he can not at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken.
draw peculiar plan
Fix'd like a plan on his peculiar spot, to draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.
last lay
Be not the first by which a new thing is tried, or the last to lay the old aside.
blessed expects man ninth shall
Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed" was the ninth beatitude
fault hide mercy teach
Teach me to feel another's woe. To hide the fault I see: That the mercy I show to others; that mercy also show to me.
english-poet fault hide mercy others teach
Teach me to feel another's woe,To hide the fault I see,That mercy I to others show,That mercy show to me.
censure ten writers-and-writing writes
Ten censure wrong, for one that writes amiss.
catch flying last lips suck
See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll,/ Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul!
college die endow
Die and endow a college or a cat.
curse law-and-lawyers love
Curse on all laws, but those that love has made.
truth
And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in a masquerade.