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Some judge of authors' names, not works, and then Nor praise nor blame the writings, but the men.

Alexander Pope

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Alexander Pope
Age: 56 †
Born: 1688
Born: May 21
Died: 1744
Died: May 30
Literary Historian
Poet
Translator
the City
Pope the Poet
Alexander I Pope
Alexander
I Pope
Men
Authors
Judge
Blame
Praise
Judging
Works
Names
Writing
Writings

More quotes by Alexander Pope

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See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep, And all the western world believe and sleep.
Alexander Pope
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Trust not yourself, but your defects to know, make use of every friend and every foe.
Alexander Pope
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There are some solitary wretches who seem to have left the rest of mankind, only, as Eve left Adam, to meet the devil in private.
Alexander Pope
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At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.
Alexander Pope
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But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company.
Alexander Pope
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When to mischief mortals bend their will, how soon they find it instruments of ill.
Alexander Pope
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Praise is like ambergrease: a little whiff of it, and by snatches, is very agreeable but when a man holds a whole lump of it to your nose, it is a stink, and strikes you down.
Alexander Pope
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Good God! how often are we to die before we go quite off this stage? In every friend we lose a part of ourselves, and the best part.
Alexander Pope
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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.
Alexander Pope
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If a man's character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.
Alexander Pope
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Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know.
Alexander Pope
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The life of a wit is a warfare upon earth.
Alexander Pope
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Alas! the small discredit of a bribe Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.
Alexander Pope
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Therefore they who say our thoughts are not our own because they resemble the Ancients, may as well say our faces are not our own, because they are like our Fathers: And indeed it is very unreasonable, that people should expect us to be Scholars, and yet be angry to find us so.
Alexander Pope
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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.
Alexander Pope
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Say, will the falcon, stooping from above, Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove? Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings? Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings?
Alexander Pope
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When two people compliment each other with the choice of anything, each of them generally gets that which he likes least.
Alexander Pope
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The light of Heaven restore Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more.
Alexander Pope
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Give me again my hollow tree A crust of bread, and liberty!
Alexander Pope
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O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, And make my tongue victorious as her eyes.
Alexander Pope