Alexander Pope Quotes: Sources, Meanings & Themes

An Essay on Criticism, Part III; Pope joins good nature and good sense before contrasting ordinary human error with the higher moral act of forgiveness.

An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.

An Essay on Criticism; Pope follows the line with the image of drinking deeply from the Pierian spring.

An Essay on Criticism, Part III; Pope warns against reckless confidence and poor judgment in critics.

An Essay on Criticism; original capitalization is lightly normalized elsewhere on the site.

An Essay on Criticism, in the section describing the moral duties of a critic.

An Essay on Criticism, in the passage warning against pride in judgment.

An Essay on Criticism; original eighteenth-century spelling is substantially retained.

Part II of An Essay on Criticism; Pope defines wit through clear expression of recognizable truth.

Epistle I.

An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 15 / scan leaf 21, line 297. “Who breaks a Butterfly upon a Wheel?” occurs inside the hostile “Paris” / Lord Hervey satire and questions disproportionate punishment. The first edition capitalizes “Butterfly” and “Wheel”; the frozen catalog capitalization is normalized, and the personal/polemical context remains explicit.

An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 8 / scan leaf 14, around lines 148–150. After saying Gildon drew his “venal quill,” Pope says he wished him a dinner and did not answer the attack. The first edition reads “sate still,” while the later/normalized Gutenberg #9800 witness underlying the frozen catalog reads “sat still”; this collection wording is retained and the witness variation is disclosed rather than silently rewritten.

An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 15 / scan leaf 21, lines 292–293. “A Lash like mine no honest man shall dread” states Pope’s own defence of satire immediately before the attack on “Paris” / Lord Hervey. The first edition capitalizes “Lash”; the frozen catalog lowercase is normalized orthography.

An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 7 / scan leaf 13, lines 128–131. Pope explains that the Muse helped him endure “this long Disease, my Life” and addresses his physician-friend Arbuthnot directly. The frozen catalog lowercases “disease”; this is witness capitalization only. The passage is autobiographical-satirical verse, not medical guidance about illness or resilience.

An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 11 / scan leaf 17, lines 199–212. “Damn with faint praise” belongs to Pope’s satirical portrait of “Atticus,” conventionally associated with Joseph Addison. It is polemical literary characterization inside Pope’s self-defence, not neutral biography or a general diagnosis of insincere praise.

The Rape of the Lock, Canto III, line 16 in the 1714 second edition. ‘At ev’ry Word a Reputation dies’ is already present in that edition and remains dated 1714; the line occurs in a satirical description of fashionable social talk rather than as literal reportage.

The Rape of the Lock, Canto I, line 2 in the 1717 recension. The retained catalog wording ‘What mighty contests rise from trivial things’ is verified in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717), scan page 157; the 1714 second edition instead reads ‘What mighty Quarrels rise from trivial things,’ so the synchronized source year is 1717. The line is part of Pope’s mock-heroic invocation and should be read as satire.

The Rape of the Lock, Canto V, line 34 in Pope’s 1717 revision; final line of Clarissa’s added speech. The inherited 1714 source year is corrected to 1717; the narrator immediately notes that the audience gives her no applause, keeping the maxim inside its mock-heroic dramatic setting.

The Rape of the Lock, Canto V, lines 29–30 in Pope’s 1717 revision; spoken by Clarissa. Her speech was added in 1717, so the inherited 1714 source year is corrected to 1717. Clarissa’s counsel is immediately followed by the poem’s return to comic battle, preserving the satirical frame.

The Rape of the Lock, Canto V, lines 15–16 in Pope’s 1717 revision; spoken by Clarissa. Her moralizing speech (Canto V lines 7–36) was added in 1717, so the inherited 1714 source year is corrected to 1717. The reviewed evidence opens the 1717 Canto V scan start; the exact couplet is independently preserved in the complete final-form text.