Quotes from Alexander Pope

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan: The proper study of mankind is man.

One simile that solitary shinesIn the dry desert of a thousand lines.

The most positive men are the most credulous.

Unlearn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art,No language, but the language of the heart.

Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.

They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.

Education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.

Some old men, continually praise the time of their youth. In fact, you would almost think that there were no fools in their days, but unluckily they themselves are left as an example.

That true self-love and social are the same.

Dear, damn'd, distracting town, farewell!Thy fools no more I'll tease:This year in peace, ye critics, dwell,Ye harlots, sleep at ease!

Beauty draws us with a single hair.

Our rural ancestors, with little blest, Patient of labour when the end was rest, Indulged the day that housed their annual grain, With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain.

Men, some to business, some to pleasure take;But ev'ry woman is at heart a rake.

She who ne'er answers till a husband cools,Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules;Charms by accepting, by submitting, sways,Yet has her humor most, when she obeys.

She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen.

Trust not yourself, but your defects to know, make use of every friend and every foe.

Ev'n copious Dryden wanted, or forgot,The last and greatest art—the art to blot.

In wit a man, simplicity a child.

Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,In pleasing memory of all he stole.

The learned is happy, nature to explore The fool is happy, that he knows no more.

Extremes in nature equal ends produce In man they join to some mysterious use.

Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.

And proud his mistress' orders to perform,Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.

But thousands die, without or this or that,Die, and endow a college, or a cat.