"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."

"Not always actions show the man: we find Who does a kindness is not therefore kind."

"In vain sedate reflections we would make When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take."

"Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect."

"That each from other differs, first confess; Next, that he varies from himself no less."

"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."

"Never were penury of knowledge and vulgarity of sentiment so happily disguised."

"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."

"That virtue only makes our bliss below, And all our knowledge is ourselves to know."

"Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend."

"Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph and partake the gale?"

"Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe."

"Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God."

"Never elated when one man 's oppress'd; Never dejected while another 's bless'd."

"Know then this truth (enough for man to know), — Virtue alone is happiness below."

"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!"

"Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land? All fear, none aid you, and few understand."

"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."

"A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God."

"What's Fame? a fancied life in others' breath, A thing beyond us, ev'n before our death."

"What can ennoble sots or slaves or cowards? Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards."

"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather or prunella."

"Honour and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honour lies."

"The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy."

"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."

"Order is Heaven's first law."

"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."

"Thus God and Nature linked the general frame, And bade self-love and social be the same."

"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."

"Force first made Conquest, and that conquest, Law."

"The enormous faith of many made for one."

"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."

"Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale."

"While man exclaims, “See all things for my use!” “See man for mine!” replies a pamper'd goose."

"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."

"Hope travels thro', nor quits us when we die."

"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."

"Virtuous and vicious every man must be,— Few in the extreme, but all in the degree."

"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."

"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."

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

"The young disease, that must subdue at length, Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength."

"And hence one master passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest."

"On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale."

"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."