Showing 101–150 of 430 entries
"Of all the causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind; What the weak head with strongest bias rules,-- Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 1.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 15.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!"
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 32.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 53.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"True wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 97.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 109.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd and make the learned smile."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 126.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 133.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there. These equal syllables alone require, Though oft the ear the open vowels tire; While expletives their feeble aid to join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 142.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"A needless Alexandrine ends the song, That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 156.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 'T is not enough no harshness gives offence,-- The sound must seem an echo to the sense."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 162.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow: Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 166.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move; For fools admire, but men of sense approve."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 190.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!"
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 220.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Envy will merit as its shade pursue, But like a shadow proves the substance true."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 266.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"All seems infected that th' infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye."
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 358.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"And make each day a critic on the last."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 12.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 15.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 53.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Most authors steal their works, or buy; Garth did not write his own Dispensary."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 59.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"For fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 66.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Led by the light of the Mæonian star."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 89.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Content if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew."
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 180.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"What dire offence from amorous causes springs! What mighty contests rise from trivial things!"
The Rape of the Lock. Canto i. Line 1.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"And all Arabia breathes from yonder box."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto i. Line 134.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto ii. Line 7.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you 'll forget them all."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto ii. Line 17.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto ii. Line 27.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 7.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"At every word a reputation dies."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 16.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 21.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 117.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, forever, and forever!"
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 153.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iv. Line 123.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul."
The Rape of the Lock. Canto v. Line 34.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said; Tie up the knocker! say I 'm sick, I 'm dead."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 1.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 5.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"E'en Sunday shines no Sabbath day to me."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 12.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Is there a parson much bemused in beer, A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross?"
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 15.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Friend to my life, which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 27.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Obliged by hunger and request of friends."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 44.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Fired that the house rejects him, "'Sdeath! I 'll print it, And shame the fools.""
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 61.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"No creature smarts so little as a fool."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 84.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Destroy his fib or sophistry--in vain! The creature 's at his dirty work again."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 91.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 127.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"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."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 169.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Means not, but blunders round about a meaning; And he whose fustian 's so sublimely bad, It is not poetry, but prose run mad."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 186.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 197.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"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."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 201.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain
"By flatterers besieg'd, And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd; Like Cato, give his little senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 207.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain