"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."

"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine."

"Not louder shrieks to pitying heav'n are cast, When husbands, or when lapdogs, breathe their last."

"Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes."

"Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take — and sometimes tea."

"Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane."

"This casket India's glowing gems unlocks And all Arabia breathes from yonder box."

"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."

"If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all."

"Let spades be trumps! she said, and trumps they were."

"Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul."

"At every word a reputation dies."

"On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore."

"What dire offence from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things!"

"But when mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill!"

"Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake."

"Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair."

"Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay."

"They shift the moving toyshop of their heart."

"Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike."

"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."

"One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight, Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight."

"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..."

"See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul."

"Fill my fond heart with God alone, for he Alone can rival, can succeed to thee."

"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."

"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?"

"Oh name forever sad! forever dear! Still breathed in sighs, still ushered with a tear."

"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."

"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!"

"[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."

"Now warm in love, now with'ring in my bloom, Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!"

"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."

"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."

"Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?"

"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."

""On wings of winds came flying all abroad"."

"Means not, but blunders round about a meaning; And he whose fustian 's so sublimely bad, It is not poetry, but prose run mad."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Destroy his fib, or sophistry — in vain! The creature's at his dirty work again."

"No creature smarts so little as a fool."

"As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came."

"Friend to my life, which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song."

"Obliged by hunger and request of friends."

"E'en Sunday shines no Sabbath day to me."

"Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land."