491 quotes found
"Awake, my St John! Leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of kings. Let us, since life can little more supply Than just to look about us, and to die, Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man; A mighty maze! But not without a plan."
"Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield."
"Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, And catch the manners living as they rise: Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; But vindicate the ways of God to man."
"Say first, of God above or man below, What can we reason but from what we know?"
"Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind? First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less!"
"'T is but a part we see, and not a whole."
"Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescrib'd, their present state."
"Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food, And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood."
"Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, And now a bubble burst, and now a world."
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest. The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come."
"Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; His soul proud Science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk or milky way; Yet simple nature to his hope has giv'n, Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heav'n."
"But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company."
"In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies; All quit their spere, and rush into the skies! Pride still is aiming at the blessed abodes, Men would be Angels, Angels would be Gods. Aspiring to be Gods if Angels fell, Aspiring to be Angels men rebel."
"Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My footstool earth, my canopy the skies."
"Why has not man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason,—man is not a fly."
"Die of a rose in aromatic pain."
"The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."
"Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought divide!"
"All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul."
"Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees."
"As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns As the rapt seraph that adores and burns. To Him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all!"
"Our proper bliss depends on what we blame."
"All nature is but art unknown to thee, All chance, direction which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good; And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right."
"Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man."
"Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the skeptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act or rest; In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer; Born but to die, and reasn'ing but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such, Whether he thinks too little or too much."
"Chaos of thought and passion, all confused; Still by himself abused, or disabused; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled; The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!"
"Trace science then, with modesty thy guide."
"Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot, To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot."
"In lazy apathy let stoics boast Their virtue fix'd: 'tis fix'd as in a frost; Contracted all, retiring to the breast; But strength of mind is exercise, not rest."
"On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale."
"And hence one master passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest."
"The young disease, that must subdue at length, Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength."
"Extremes in nature equal ends produce; In man they join to some mysterious use."
"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
"Ask where's the North? At York 'tis on the Tweed; In Scotland at the Orcades; and there, At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where."
"Virtuous and vicious every man must be,— Few in the extreme, but all in the degree."
"The learned is happy Nature to explore, The fool is happy that he knows no more; The rich is happy in the plenty giv'n, The poor contents him with the care of Heav'n."
"Hope travels thro', nor quits us when we die."
"Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw: Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, A little louder, but as empty quite: Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, And beads and prayer books are the toys of age! Pleased with this bauble still, as that before; Till tired he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er."
"While man exclaims, “See all things for my use!” “See man for mine!” replies a pamper'd goose."
"Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale."
"In vain thy Reason finer webs shall draw, Entangle justice in her net of law, And right, too rigid, harden into wrong, Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong."
"The enormous faith of many made for one."
"Force first made Conquest, and that conquest, Law."
"For forms of government let fools contest; Whate'er is best administered 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."
"Thus God and Nature linked the general frame, And bade self-love and social be the same."
"Oh, happiness! Our being’s end and aim! Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate’er thy name: That something still which prompts the eternal sigh, For which we bear to live, or dare to die, Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, O’erlooked, seen double, by the fool, and wise. Plant of celestial seed! if dropped below, Say, in what mortal soil thou deign’st to grow? Fair opening to some Court’s propitious shine, Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine? Twined with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield, Or reaped in iron harvests of the field? Where grows? — where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the soil: Fixed to no spot is happiness sincere, ’Tis nowhere to be found, or everywhere; ’Tis never to be bought, but always free, And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with thee."
"Order is Heaven's first law."
"Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of Sense, Lie in three words, Health, Peace, and Competence. But Health consists with Temperance alone, And Peace, oh Virtue! Peace is all thy own."
"The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy."
"Honour and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honour lies."
"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather or prunella."
"What can ennoble sots or slaves or cowards? Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards."
"What's Fame? a fancied life in others' breath, A thing beyond us, ev'n before our death."
"A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God."
"Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. One self-approving hour whole years outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas; And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels. In parts superior what advantage lies? Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise? 'T is but to know how little can be known; To see all others' faults, and feel our own."
"Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land? All fear, none aid you, and few understand."
"If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin'd, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind! Or ravish'd with the whistling of a name, See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting fame!"
"Know then this truth (enough for man to know), — Virtue alone is happiness below."
"Never elated when one man 's oppress'd; Never dejected while another 's bless'd."
"Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God."
"Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe."
"Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph and partake the gale?"
"Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend."
"That virtue only makes our bliss below, And all our knowledge is ourselves to know."
"The Essay on Man was a work of great labour and long consideration, but certainly not the happiest of Pope's performances. The subject is perhaps not very proper for poetry, and the poet was not sufficiently master of his subject; metaphysical morality was to him a new study, he was proud of his acquisitions, and, supposing himself master of great secrets, was in haste to teach what he had not learned."
"Never were penury of knowledge and vulgarity of sentiment so happily disguised."
"The fate of all extremes is such, Men may read, as well as books, too much. To observations which ourselves we make, We grow more partial for th' observer's sake."
"That each from other differs, first confess; Next, that he varies from himself no less."
"Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect."
"In vain sedate reflections we would make When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take."
"Not always actions show the man: we find Who does a kindness is not therefore kind."
"Who combats bravely is not therefore brave, He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave: Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,— His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies."
"'Tis from high life high characters are drawn; A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn."
"'Tis education forms the common mind: Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."
"Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes, Tenets with books, and principles with times."
""Odious! in woollen! 't would a saint provoke", Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke."
"And you, brave Cobham! to the latest breath Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death."
"Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all"."
"Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it, If folly grow romantic, I must paint it."
"Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute."
"Fine by defect, and delicately weak."
"Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside, A teeming mistress, but a barren bride."
"Wise wretch! with pleasures too refined to please; With too much spirit to be e'er at ease; With too much quickness ever to be taught; With too much thinking to have common thought. You purchase pain with all that joy can give, And die of nothing but a rage to live."
"Atossa, cursed with every granted prayer, Childless with all her children, wants an heir; To heirs unknown descends the unguarded store, Or wanders heaven-directed to the poor."
""With ev'ry pleasing, ev'ry prudent part, Say, what can Chloe want?" — She wants a heart."
"Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, Content to dwell in decencies forever."
"In men, we various ruling passions find; In women, two almost divide the kind; Those, only fixed, they first or last obey, The love of pleasure, and the love of sway."
"Men, some to business, some to pleasure take; But every woman is at heart a rake."
"See how the world its veterans rewards! A youth of frolics, an old age of cards."
"Oh, blest with temper whose unclouded ray Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day!"
"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."
"And mistress of herself though china fall."
"And yet, believe me, good as well as ill, Woman's at best a contradiction still."
"Who shall decide when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?"
"Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly."
"P. What riches give us let us then inquire: Meat, fire, and clothes. B. What more? P. Meat, fine clothes, and fire."
"But thousands die, without this or that, Die, and endow a college, or a cat."
"The ruling passion, be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still."
"Extremes in Nature equal good produce; Extremes in man concur to general use."
"Rise, honest muse! and sing The Man of Ross."
"Ye little stars! hide your diminish'd rays."
"Who builds a church to God and not to fame, Will never mark the marble with his name."
"In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung."
"Where London's column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies."
"But Satan now is wiser than of yore, And tempts by making rich, not making poor."
"Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no science, fairly worth the seven."
"Tis use alone that sanctifies expense, And splendor borrows all her rays from sense."
"To rest, the cushion and soft dean invite, Who never mentions hell to ears polite."
"Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honor clear; Who broke no promise, served no private end, Who gained no title, and who lost no friend."
"Ten Censure wrong for one who Writes amiss."
"'Tis with our judgements as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own."
"Let such teach others who themselves excel, And censure freely who have written well."
"Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs nature meant but fools."
"Nature to all things fix'd the Limits fit, And wisely curb'd proud Man's pretending Wit: As on the Land while here the Ocean gains, In other Parts it leaves wide sandy Plains; Thus in the Soul while Memory prevails, The solid Pow'r of Understanding fails; Where Beams of warm Imagination play, The Memory's soft Figures melt away."
"One science only will one genius fit: So vast is art, so narrow human wit."
"Wit and judgment often are at strife, Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife."
"From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part, And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art."
"Some Figures monstrous and mis-shap'd appear, Consider'd singly, or beheld too near, Which, but proportion'd to their Light, or Place, Due Distance reconciles to Form and Grace."
"A prudent Chief not always must display His Pow'rs in equal Ranks, and fair Array, But with th' Occasion and the Place comply, Conceal his Force, nay seem sometimes to Fly. Those oft are Stratagems which Errors seem, Nor is it Homer Nods, but We that Dream."
"Of all the causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind; What the weak head with strongest bias rules, — Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools."
"Trust not your self; but your Defects to know, Make use of ev'ry Friend — and ev'ry Foe."
"A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain, And drinking largely sobers us again."
"Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!"
"'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call, But the joint force and full result of all."
"Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."
"True wit is nature to advantage dressed, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed."
"Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found."
"Such labored nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearned, and make the learned smile."
"In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
"As some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there. These equal syllables alone require, Though oft the ear the open vowels tire; While expletives their feeble aid do join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line."
"Then, at the last and only couplet fraught With some unmeaning thing they call a thought, A needless Alexandrine ends the song, That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along."
"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense; The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow: Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main."
"At ev'ry Trifle scorn to take Offence, That always shows Great Pride, or Little Sense."
"Yet not let each gay turn thy rapture move; For fools admire, but men of sense approve."
"Some judge of authors' names, not works, and then Nor praise nor blame the writings, but the men."
"What woeful stuff this madrigal would be, In some starved hackney sonneteer, or me! But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!"
"But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!"
"Some praise at morning what they blame at night, But always think the last opinion right."
"We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so."
"Fondly we think we honour Merit then, When we but praise Our selves in Other Men."
"Envy will merit as its shade pursue, But like a shadow proves the substance true."
"Be thou the first true Merit to befriend; His praise is lost, who stays till All commend."
"Ah ne'er so dire a Thirst of Glory boast, Nor in the Critick let the Man be lost! Good-Nature and Good-Sense must ever join; To err is human, to forgive divine."
"All seems Infected that th' Infected spy, As all looks yellow to the Jaundic'd Eye."
"Learn then what morals critics ought to show, For 'tis but half a judge's task, to know."
"Be silent always when you doubt your sense."
"And make each day a critic on the last."
"'Tis not enough your Counsel still be true, Blunt Truths more Mischief than nice Falsehoods do; Men must be taught as if you taught them not; And Things unknown propos'd as Things forgot."
"The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head, With his own tongue still edifies his ears, And always list'ning to himself appears. All books he reads, and all he reads assails."
"Most authors steal their works, or buy; Garth did not write his own Dispensary."
"No Place so Sacred from such Fops is barr'd, Nor is Paul's Church more safe than Paul's Church-yard: Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead; For fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
"But where's the man who counsel can bestow, Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know?"
"Led by the light of the Mæonian star."
"Content if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew."
"Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame, Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame, Averse alike to flatter or offend, Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend."
"The Essay on Criticism...displays such extent of comprehension, such nicety of distinction, such acquaintance with mankind, and such knowledge both of ancient and modern learning as are not often attained by the maturest age and longest experience."
"One of [Pope's] greatest though of his earliest works is the Essay on Criticism, which if he had written nothing else would have placed him among the first criticks and the first poets, as it exhibits every mode of excellence that can embellish or dignify didactick composition, selection of matter, novelty of arrangement, justness of precept, splendour of illustration, and propriety of digression. I know not whether it be pleasing to consider that he produced this piece at twenty, and never afterwards excelled it: he that delights himself with observing that such powers may be so soon attained, cannot but grieve to think that life was ever after at a stand."
"The wrath of Peleus' son, the direful spring Of all the Grecian woes, O goddess sing!"
"Bold is the task, when subjects, grown too wise, Instruct a monarch where his error lies."
"The distant Trojans never injur'd me."
"Thou dog in forehead, but in heart a deer!"
"Words sweet as honey from his lips distill'd."
"Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,— The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god."
"And unextinguish'd laughter shakes the skies."
"Ye gods, what dastards would our host command? Swept to the war, the lumber of a land."
"Thick as autumnal leaves or driving sand, The moving squadrons blacken all the strand."
"Chiefs who no more in bloody fights engage, But wise through time, and narrative with age, In summer-days like grasshoppers rejoice — A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice."
"She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen."
"Ajax the great… Himself a host."
"Plough the watery deep."
"The day shall come, that great avenging day, Which Troy's proud glories in the dust shall lay, When Priam's powers and Priam's self shall fall, And one prodigious ruin swallow all."
"First in the fight and every graceful deed."
"The first in banquets, but the last in fight."
"Gods! How the son degenerates from the sire!"
"With all its beauteous honours on its head."
"A wealthy priest, but rich without a fault."
"Not two strong men the enormous weight could raise,— Such men as live in these degenerate days."
"Whose little body lodg'd a mighty mind."
"He held his seat,—a friend to human race. Fast by the road, his ever-open door Obliged the wealthy, and relieved the poor."
"Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another race the following spring supplies: They fall successive, and successive rise."
"Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind."
"If yet not lost to all the sense of shame."
"'Tis man's to fight, but Heaven's to give success."
"The young Astyanax, the hope of Troy."
"Yet while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all, in thee."
"May I lie cold before that dreadful day, Pressed with a load of monumental clay!"
"Andromache! my soul's far better part."
"He from whose lips divine persuasion flows."
"Not hate, but glory, made these chiefs contend; And each brave foe was in his soul a friend."
"I war not with the dead."
"Aurora now, fair daughter of the dawn, Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn."
"As full-blown poppies, overcharg'd with rain, Decline the head, and drooping kiss the plain, — So sinks the youth; his beauteous head, depress'd Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast."
"As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene; Around her throne the vivid planets roll, And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole, O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head; Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, A flood of glory bursts from all the skies."
"Who dares think one thing, and another tell, My heart detests him as the gates of hell."
"Life is not to be bought with heaps of gold: Not all Apollo's Pythian treasures hold, Or Troy once held, in peace and pride of sway, Can bribe the poor possession of a day."
"Short is my date, but deathless my renown."
"Injustice, swift, erect, and unconfin'd, Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples o'er mankind."
"A generous friendship no cold medium knows, Burns with one love, with one resentment glows; One should our interests, and our passions, be; My friend must hate the man that injures me."
"To labour is the lot of man below; And when Jove gave us life, he gave us woe."
"Content to follow when we lead the way."
"He serves me most, who serves his country best."
"Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know."
"The rest were vulgar deaths, unknown to fame."
"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country's cause."
"The life which others pay let us bestow, And give to fame what we to nature owe."
"And seem to walk on wings, and tread in air."
"The best of things beyond their measure cloy."
"To hide their ignominious heads in Troy."
"Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes."
"Heroes as great have died, and yet shall fall."
"And for our country 'tis a bliss to die."
"On valour's side the odds of combat lie, The brave live glorious, or lamented die; The wretch who trembles in the field of fame, Meets death, and worse than death, eternal shame."
"Like strength is felt from hope and from despair."
"Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspir'd."
"Sleep and Death, two twins of winged race, Of matchless swiftness, but of silent pace."
"Dispel this cloud, the light of Heaven restore; Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more."
"The mildest manners, and the gentlest heart."
"In death a hero, as in life a friend!"
"Patroclus, lov'd of all my martial train, Beyond mankind, beyond myself, is slain!"
"I live an idle burden to the ground."
"Ah, youth! forever dear, forever kind."
"Accept these grateful tears! for thee they flow,— For thee, that ever felt another's woe!"
"Where'er he mov'd, the goddess shone before."
"The matchless Ganymed, divinely fair."
"'Tis fortune gives us birth, But Jove alone endues the soul with worth."
"Our business in the field of fight Is not to question, but to prove our might."
"A mass enormous! which in modern days No two of earth's degenerate sons could raise."
"The bitter dregs of fortune's cup to drain."
"Who dies in youth and vigour, dies the best."
"This, this is misery! the last, the worst That man can feel."
"No season now for calm familiar talk."
"Jove lifts the golden balances that show The fates of mortal men, and things below."
"Then welcome fate! 'Tis true I perish, yet I perish great: Yet in a mighty deed I shall expire, Let future ages hear it, and admire!"
"Achilles absent was Achilles still."
"Forever honour'd, and forever mourn'd."
"Unwept, unhonour'd, uninterr'd he lies!"
"Grief tears his heart, and drives him to and fro In all the raging impotence of woe."
"Sinks my sad soul with sorrow to the grave."
"'Tis true, 'tis certain; man though dead retains Part of himself: the immortal mind remains."
"Base wealth preferring to eternal praise."
"It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize, And to be swift is less than to be wise. 'Tis more by art than force of num'rous strokes."
"A green old age, unconscious of decays, That proves the hero born in better days."
"Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood,— The source of evil one, and one of good."
"The mildest manners with the bravest mind."
"[Pope's] translation of the Iliad will remain a lasting monument to his honour, as the most elegant and highly finished translation, that, perhaps, ever was given of any poetical work."
"I mentioned the vulgar saying, that Pope's Homer was not a good representation of the original. JOHNSON. "Sir, it is the greatest work of the kind that has ever been produced.""
"I have as yet read only to the end of the eighth Iliad; but, as far as I can judge, this is one of the finest translations in the English language; and, what is very extraordinary, it appears to the best advantage when compared with the original. I have read both carefully so far, and written remarks as I went along, and I think I can prove that, where Pope has omitted one beauty, he has added or improved four."
"The rights, powers, and pretensions of the sovereign of Olympus, are very clearly described in the xvth book of the Iliad: in the Greek original, I mean; for Mr. Pope, without perceiving it, has improved the theology of Homer."
"Bentely] and Pope, soon after the publication of Homer, met at Dr. Mead's at dinner; when Pope, desirous of his opinion of the translation, addressed him thus: "Dr. Bentley, I ordered my bookseller to send you your books; I hope you received them." Bentley, who had purposely avoided saying any thing about Homer, pretended not to understand him, and asked, 'Books! books! what books?' 'My Homer,' replied Pope, 'which you did me the honour to subscribe for.'—'Oh,' said Bentley, 'ay, now I recollect—your translation:—it is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope; but you must not call it Homer.'"
"It is certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen; and its publication must therefore be considered as one of the great events in the annals of learning."
"[A] poetical wonder ... a performance which no age or nation can pretend to equal."
"[Pope] cultivated our language with so much diligence and art, that he has left in his Homer a treasure of poetical elegances to posterity. His version may be said to have tuned the English tongue; for since its appearance no writer, however deficient in other powers, has wanted melody. Such a series of lines so elaborately corrected, and so sweetly modulated, took possession of the publick ear; the vulgar was enamoured of the poem, and the learned wondered at the translation. [...] It is remarked by Watts, that there is scarcely a happy combination of words, or a phrase poetically elegant in the English language, which Pope has not inserted into his version of Homer. How he obtained possession of so many beauties of speech, it were desirable to know."
"[Pope's] translation of the Iliad is the finest ever made."
"What terrible moments does one feel after one has engaged for a large work! In the beginning of my translating the Iliad, I wished any body would hang me a hundred times. It sat so heavily on my mind at first, that I often used to dream of it; and do so sometimes still. When I fell into the method of translating 30 or 40 verses before I got up, and piddled with it the rest of the morning, it went on easily enough; and when I was thoroughly got into the way of it, I did the rest with pleasure. [...] The Iliad took me up six years, and during that time, and particularly the first part of it, I was often under great pain and apprehensions. Though I conquered the thoughts of it in the day, they would frighten me in the night. I dreamed often of being engaged in a long journey, and that I should never get to the end of it. This made so strong an impression upon me, that I sometimes dream of it still; of being engaged in that translation, of having got about half way through it, and being embarrassed, and under dread of never completing it."
"The famous Lord Hallifax (though so much talked of) was rather a pretender to taste, than really possessed of it.—When I had finished the two or three first books of my translation of the Iliad, that lord, "desired to have the pleasure of hearing them read at his house." Addison, Congreve, and Garth, were there at the reading.—In four or five places, Lord Hallifax stopped me very civilly; and with a speech, each time of much the same kind: "I beg your pardon, Mr. Pope, but there is something in that passage that does not quite please me.—Be so good as to mark the place, and consider it a little at your leisure.—I am sure you can give it a little turn."—I returned from Lord Hallifax's with Dr. Garth, in his chariot; and as we were going along, was saying to the doctor, that my lord had laid me under a good deal of difficulty, by such loose and general observations; that I had been thinking over the passages almost ever since, and could not guess at what it was that offended his lordship in either of them.—Garth laughed heartily at my embarrassment; said, I had not been long enough acquainted with Lord Hallifax, to know his way yet: that I need not puzzle myself in looking those places over and over when I got home. "All you need do, (said he) is to leave them just as they are; call on Lord Hallifax two or three months hence, thank him for his kind observations on those passages; and then read them to him as altered. I have known him much longer than you have, and will be answerable for the event."—I followed his advice; waited on Lord Hallifax some time after: said, I hoped he would find his objections to those passages removed[;] read them to him exactly as they were at first; and his lordship was extremely pleased with them, and cried out, "Ay now, Mr. Pope, they are perfectly right! nothing can be better.""
"The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound."
"Fly, dotard, fly! With thy wise dreams and fables of the sky."
"And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared."
"Few sons attain the praise Of their great sires, and most their sires disgrace."
"For never, never, wicked man was wise."
"Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies; And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies."
"The lot of man,—to suffer and to die."
"A faultless body and a blameless mind."
"The long historian of my country's woes."
"Forgetful youth! but know, the Power above With ease can save each object of his love; Wide as his will extends his boundless grace."
"When now Aurora, daughter of the dawn, With rosy lustre purpled o'er the lawn."
"These riches are possess'd, but not enjoy'd!"
"Mirror of constant faith, rever'd and mourn'd!"
"There with commutual zeal we both had strove In acts of dear benevolence and love: Brothers in peace, not rivals in command."
"The glory of a firm, capacious mind."
"Wise to resolve, and patient to perform."
"The leader, mingling with the vulgar host, Is in the common mass of matter lost."
"O thou, whose certain eye foresees The fix'd events of fate's remote decrees."
"Forget the brother, and resume the man."
"The people's parent, he protected all."
"The big round tear stands trembling in her eye."
"The windy satisfaction of the tongue."
"A moment snatch’d the shining form away, And all was covered with the curling sea."
"Heaven hears and pities hapless men like me, For sacred ev'n to gods is misery."
"The bank he press'd, and gently kiss'd the ground."
"A heaven of charms divine Nausicaa lay."
"Jove weighs affairs of earth in dubious scales, And the good suffers while the bad prevails."
"By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent, And what to those we give, to Jove is lent."
"A decent boldness ever meets with friends, Succeeds, and even a stranger recommends."
"To heal divisions, to relieve th' opprest; In virtue rich; in blessing others, blest."
"Oh, pity human woe! 'T is what the happy to the unhappy owe."
"Whose well-taught mind the present age surpast."
"For fate has wove the thread of life with pain, And twins ev'n from the birth are misery and man!"
"In youth and beauty wisdom is but rare!"
"And every eye Gaz'd, as before some brother of the sky."
"Nor can one word be chang'd but for a worse."
"And unextinguish'd laughter shakes the sky."
"Behold on wrong Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!"
"A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue."
"Just are the ways of Heaven: from Heaven proceed The woes of man; Heaven doom'd the Greeks to bleed,— A theme of future song!"
"Earth sounds my wisdom and high heaven my fame."
"Strong are her sons, though rocky are her shores."
"Lotus, the name; divine, nectareous juice!"
"Respect us human, and relieve us poor."
"Rare gift! but oh what gift to fools avails!"
"Our fruitless labours mourn, And only rich in barren fame return."
"No more was seen the human form divine."
"And not a man appears to tell their fate."
"Can living eyes behold the realms below? What bark to waft me, and what wind to blow?"
"Let him, oraculous, the end, the way, The turns of all thy future fate display."
"Born but to banquet, and to drain the bowl."
"Thin airy shoals of visionary ghosts."
"His cold remains all naked to the sky On distant shores unwept, unburied lie."
"Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar."
"Heav'd on Olympus tott'ring Ossa stood; On Ossa, Pelion nods with all his wood."
"The first in glory, as the first in place."
"Soft as some song divine thy story flows."
"Oh woman, woman! when to ill thy mind Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend."
"What mighty woes To thy imperial race from woman rose!"
"But sure the eye of time beholds no name So blest as thine in all the rolls of fame."
"Rather I'd choose laboriously to bear A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air, A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread, Than reign the sceptred monarch of the dead."
"And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves."
"I turn’d my eye, and as I turn’d survey’d A mournful vision! the Sisyphian shade; With many a weary step, and many a groan, Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone; The huge round stone, resulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground."
"Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone."
"There in the bright assemblies of the skies."
"Gloomy as night he stands."
"All, soon or late, are doom'd that path to tread."
"And what so tedious as a twice-told tale."
"Better to rush at once to shades below, Than linger life away, and nourish woe!"
"He ceas'd; but left so pleasing on their ear His voice, that list'ning still they seem'd to hear."
"His native home deep imag'd in his soul."
"And bear unmov'd the wrongs of base mankind, The last and hardest conquest of the mind."
"How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!"
"It never was our guise To slight the poor, or aught humane despise."
"The sex is ever to a soldier kind."
"Far from gay cities and the ways of men."
"And wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile."
"Who love too much, hate in the like extreme, And both the golden mean alike condemn."
"True friendship's laws are by this rule expressed, Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest."
"For too much rest itself becomes a pain."
"Discourse, the sweeter banquet of the mind."
"And taste The melancholy joy of evils past: For he who much has suffer'd, much will know."
"For love deceives the best of womankind."
"And would'st thou evil for his good repay?"
"Whatever day Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away."
"In ev'ry sorrowing soul I pour'd delight, And poverty stood smiling in my sight."
"Unbless'd thy hand, if in this low disguise Wander, perhaps, some inmate of the skies."
"Know from the bounteous heaven all riches flow; And what man gives, the gods by man bestow."
"Yet taught by time, my heart has learn'd to glow For others' good, and melt at others' woe."
"A winy vapour melting in a tear."
"But he whose inborn worth his acts commend, Of gentle soul, to human race a friend."
"The fool of fate,—thy manufacture, man."
"Impatient straight to flesh his virgin sword."
"Dogs, ye have had your day!"
"For dear to gods and men is sacred song. Self-taught I sing; by Heaven, and Heaven alone, The genuine seeds of poesy are sown."
"So ends the bloody business of the day."
"And rest at last where souls unbodied dwell, In ever-flowing meads of Asphodel."
"The ruins of himself! now worn away With age, yet still majestic in decay."
"And o'er the past Oblivion stretch her wing."
"Tell me, Muse, of the man of many wiles."
"So perish all who do the like again."
"O thou! whatever title please thine ear, Dean, Drapier, Bickerstaff, or Gulliver! Whether thou choose Cervantes' serious air, Or laugh and shake in Rabelais' easy chair."
"Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale, Where, in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs, And solid pudding against empty praise."
"Now night descending, the proud scene was o'er, But lived in Settle's numbers one day more."
"While pensive poets painful vigils keep, Sleepless themselves to give their readers sleep."
"Next o'er his books his eyes begin to roll, In pleasing memory of all he stole; How here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd snug, And suck'd all o'er like an industrious bug."
"Or where the pictures for the page atone, And Quarles is saved by beauties not his own."
"Soon to that mass of nonsense to return, Where things destroy'd are swept to things unborn."
"How index-learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tail."
"And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke."
"A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead."
"But blind to former, as to future Fate, What mortal knows his pre-existent state?"
"Another, yet the same."
"Till Peter's keys some christen'd Jove adorn, And Pan to Moses lends his pagan horn."
"Peeled, patched, and piebald, linsey-woolsey brothers, Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others. That once was Britain."
"All crowd, who foremost shall be damn'd to fame."
"Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous; —answer him, ye owls!"
"Immortal Rich! how calm he sits at ease, Midst snows of paper, and fierce hail of pease; And proud his mistress' order to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm."
"To aid our cause, if Heav'n thou can'st not bend, Hell thou shalt move."
"A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits."
"How sweet an Ovid, Murray was our boast!"
"The Right Divine of Kings to govern wrong."
"Stuff the head With all such reading as was never read: For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it, And write about it, Goddess, and about it."
"To happy convents, bosomed deep in vines, Where slumber abbots, purple as their wines."
"Led by my hand, he sauntered Europe round, And gathered every vice on Christian ground."
"Judicious drank, and greatly daring din'd."
"Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair, And heard thy everlasting yawn confess The pains and penalties of idleness."
"E'en Palinurus nodded at the helm."
"Philosophy, that lean'd on heaven before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more. Physic of Metaphysic begs defence, And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense!"
"Religion blushing veils her sacred fires, And unawares Morality expires. Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine; Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine! Lo! thy dread empire Chaos! is restored: Light dies before thy uncreating word; Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall, And universal darkness buries all."
"[P]erhaps the best specimen that has yet appeared of personal satire ludicrously pompous."
"Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said; Tie up the knocker! say I'm sick, I'm dead."
"Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land."
"E'en Sunday shines no Sabbath day to me."
"Is there a parson much bemused in beer, A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross?"
"Friend to my life, which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song."
"Obliged by hunger and request of friends."
"Fired that the house rejects him, "'Sdeath! I 'll print it, And shame the fools.""
"No creature smarts so little as a fool."
"Destroy his fib, or sophistry — in vain! The creature's at his dirty work again."
"As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came."
"This long disease, my life."
"Pretty! in amber to observe the forms Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms! The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare, But wonder how the devil they got there."
"Means not, but blunders round about a meaning; And he whose fustian 's so sublimely bad, It is not poetry, but prose run mad."
"Were there one whose fires True Genius kindles, and fair Fame inspires, Blessed with each talent, and each art to please, And born to write, converse, and live with ease; Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne."
"View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes, And hate for arts that caused himself to rise; Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike; Alike reserved to blame or to commend, A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend; Dreading e'en fools, by flatterers besieged, And so obliging that he ne'er obliged; Like Cato, give his little Senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause."
"Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?"
""On wings of winds came flying all abroad"."
"Oh let me live my own, and die so too (To live and die is all I have to do)! Maintain a poet's dignity and ease, And see what friends, and read what books I please."
"Cursed be the verse, how well so e'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe."
"Let Sporus tremble — "What? that thing of silk, Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk? Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?""
"Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, This painted child of dirt, that stinks and stings; Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'er enjoys."
"Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way."
"Wit that can creep and pride that licks the dust."
"That not in fancy's maze he wander'd long, But stoop'd to truth, and moraliz'd his song."
"Unlearned, he knew no schoolman's subtle art, No language, but the language of the heart."
"Me let the tender office long engage To rock the cradle of reposing age; With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep awhile one parent from the sky."
"Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day."
"Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet."
"But touch me, and no minister so sore; Whoe'er offends at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, And the sad burden of some merry song."
"Bare the mean heart that lurks behind a star."
"There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl The feast of reason and the flow of soul."
"For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, Welcome the coming, speed the going guest."
"I've often wished that I had clear, For life, six hundred pounds a year; A handsome house to lodge a friend, A river at my garden's end, A terrace walk, and half a rood Of land set out to plant a wood."
"Give me again my hollow tree, A crust of bread, and liberty."
"A patriot is a fool in ev'ry age."
"Laugh then at any but at fools or foes; These you but anger, and you mend not those. Laugh at your friends, and if your friends are sore, So much the better, you may laugh the more."
"Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame."
"All, all look up with reverential awe At crimes that 'scape or triumph o'er the law."
"To Berkeley every virtue under heaven."
"Never gallop Pegasus to death."
"When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one."
"Not to go back is somewhat to advance, And men must walk, at least, before they dance."
"Here, Wisdom calls: "Seek Virtue first, be bold! As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold.""
"He's armed without that's innocent within."
"Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace; If not, by any means get wealth and place."
"Above all Greek, above all Roman fame."
"Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old: It is the rust we value, not the gold."
"The people's voice is odd, It is, and is not, the voice of God."
"The mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease."
"One simile that solitary shines In the dry desert of a thousand lines."
"Then marble soften'd into life grew warm, And yielding, soft metal flow'd to human form."
"Who says in verse what others say in prose."
"What will a child learn sooner than a song?"
"Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine."
"Ev'n copius Dryden wanted, or forgot, The last and greatest art — the art to blot."
"Who pants for glory finds but short repose: A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows."
"There still remains, to mortify a wit, The many-headed monster of the pit."
"We poets are (upon a poet's word) Of all mankind the creatures most absurd; The season when to come, and when to go, To sing, or cease to sing, we never know."
"Praise undeserv'd is scandal in disguise."
"Years following years steal something every day; At last they steal us from ourselves away."
"The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg."
"Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spoke."
"Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease."
"Learn to live well, or fairly make your Will; You've play'd, and lov'd, and eat, and drank your fill: Walk sober off; before a sprightlier Age Comes titt'ring on, and shoves you from the stage: Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease, Whom Folly pleases, and whose Follies please."
"The worst of madmen is a saint run mad."
"Grac'd as thou art with all the power of words, So known, so honour'd at the House of Lords."
"‘Tis the first virtue, vices to abhor; And the first wisdom, to be fool no more."
"The Imitations of Horace seem to have been written as relaxations of his [Pope's] genius. This employment became his favourite by its facility; the plan was ready to his hand, and nothing was required but to accommodate as he could the sentiments of an old author to recent facts or familiar images; but what is easy is seldom excellent: such imitations cannot give pleasure to common readers. The man of learning may be sometimes surprised and delighted by an unexpected parallel; but the comparison requires knowledge of the original, which will likewise often detect strained applications. Between Roman images and English manners there will be an irreconcileable dissimilitude, and the work will be generally uncouth and party-coloured; neither original nor translated, neither ancient nor modern."
"Oh name forever sad! forever dear! Still breathed in sighs, still ushered with a tear."
"Now warm in love, now with'ring in my bloom, Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!"
"Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid, They live, they speak, they breathe what love inspires, Warm from the soul, and faithful to its fires, The virgin's wish without her fears impart, Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart, Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole."
"Guiltless I gaz'd; heav'n listen'd while you sung; And truths divine came mended from that tongue."
"How oft, when press'd to marriage, have I said, Curse on all laws but those which love has made! Love, free as air at sight of human ties, Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies."
"Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame, August her deed, and sacred be her fame; Before true passion all those views remove, Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to Love?"
"No, make me mistress to the man I love; If there be yet another name more free, More fond than mistress, make me that to thee!"
"Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call, And if I lose thy love, I lose my all."
"I view my crime, but kindle at the view, Repent old pleasures, and solicit new; Now turn'd to heav'n, I weep my past offence, Now think of thee, and curse my innocence. Of all affliction taught a lover yet, 'Tis sure the hardest science to forget! How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, And love th' offender, yet detest th' offence? How the dear object from the crime remove, Or how distinguish penitence from love? Unequal task! a passion to resign, For hearts so touch'd, so pierc'd, so lost as mine. Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state, How often must it love, how often hate! How often hope, despair, resent, regret, Conceal, disdain,—do all things but forget."
"Fill my fond heart with God alone, for he Alone can rival, can succeed to thee."
"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd..."
"One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight, Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight."
"See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul."
"Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore, And image charms he must behold no more, Such if there be, who loves so long, so well; Let him our sad, our tender story tell; The well-sung woes will sooth my pensive ghost; He best can paint them, who shall feel them most."
"[It] excelled every composition of the same kind. The mixture of religious hope and resignation gives an elevation and dignity to disappointed love, which images merely natural cannot bestow. The gloom of a convent strikes the imagination with far greater force than the solitude of a grove."
"What dire offence from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things!"
"Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake."
"They shift the moving toyshop of their heart."
"This casket India's glowing gems unlocks And all Arabia breathes from yonder box."
"On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore."
"Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike."
"If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all."
"Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair."
"Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay."
"Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail China jar receive a flaw, Or stain her honour, or her new brocade, Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade."
"Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take — and sometimes tea."
"At every word a reputation dies."
"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine."
"Let spades be trumps! she said, and trumps they were."
"Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes."
"But when mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill!"
"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."
"Not louder shrieks to pitying heav'n are cast, When husbands, or when lapdogs, breathe their last."
"Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane."
"Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul."
"Boast not my fall (he cried), insulting foe! Thou by some other shalt be laid as low; Nor think to die dejects my lofty mind; All that I dread is leaving you behind! Rather than so, ah let me still survive, And burn in Cupid's flames — but burn alive."