Alexander Pope Quotes - Page 26
To what base ends, and by what abject ways, Are mortals urg'd through sacred lust of praise!
Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly!
Here thou, great Anna! Whom three realms obey, / Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.
From Nature's chain whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.
Alas! the small discredit of a bribe Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss and infidels adore.
To endeavor to work upon the vulgar with fine sense is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.
Not always actions show the man; we find who does a kindness is not therefore kind.
Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no science, fairly worth the seven.
The light of Heaven restore; Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more.
Where beams of imagination play, the memory's soft figures melt away.
Search then the ruling passion: This clue, once found, unravels all the rest.
Ask you what provocation I have had? The strong antipathy of good to bad.
On cold December fragrant chaplets blow, And heavy harvests nod beneath the snow.
Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs nature meant but fools.
By flatterers besieged And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.
Hear how the birds, on ev'ry blooming spray, With joyous musick wake the dawning day.
