Alexander Pope - The Dunciad

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Whate'er the talents, or howe'er designed,
We hang one jingling padlock on the mind.

Alexander Pope
On cold December fragrant chaplets blow, And heavy harvests nod beneath the snow.

Alexander Pope
Ah! why, ye Gods! Should two and two make four?

Alexander Pope
Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend,
With whom my muse began, with who shall end.

Alexander Pope
How index-learning turns no student pale,
Yet holds the eel of science by the tail!

Alexander Pope
Thus Amphisbaena (I have read) At either end assails None knows which leads, or which is led, For both Heads are but Tails.

Alexander Pope
O! Would the Sons of Men 3 once think their Eyes And Reason given them but to study Flies!

Alexander Pope
Leave not a foot of verse, a foot of stone, A Page, a Grave, that they can call their own; But spread, my sons, your glory thin or thick, On passive paper, or on solid brick.

Alexander Pope
Of darkness visible so much be lent, as half to show, half veil, the deep intent.

Alexander Pope
See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep, And all the western world believe and sleep.

Alexander Pope
Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole.

Alexander Pope
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.

Alexander Pope
See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled, Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head! Philosophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more. Physic of Metaphysic begs defence, And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense! See Mystery to Mathematics fly!

Alexander Pope
To happy convents, bosom'd deep in vines,
Where slumber abbots, purple as their wines.

Alexander Pope
Peel'd, patch'd, and piebald, linsey-woolsey brothers, Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others. That once was Britain.

Alexander Pope
Whether thou choose Cervantes' serious air,
Or laugh and shake in Rabelais' easy chair.

Alexander Pope
The Right Divine of Kings to govern wrong.

Alexander Pope
Stuff the head
With all such reading as was never read:
For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it,
And write about it, Goddess, and about it.

Alexander Pope
Index-learning turns no student pale,
Yet holds the eel of Science by the tail.
Index-learning is a term used to mock pretenders who acquire superficial knowledge merely by consulting indexes.

Alexander Pope
How little, mark! that portion of the ball,
Where, faint at best, the beams of science fall.

Alexander Pope
Or where the pictures for the page atone,
And Quarles is saved by beauties not his own.

Alexander Pope
While pensive poets painful vigils keep,
Sleepless themselves, to give their readers sleep.

Alexander Pope
Religion blushing veils her sacred fires,
And unawares Morality expires.
Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine;
Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!
Lo! thy dread empire Chaos! is restor'd:
Light dies before thy uncreating word;
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall,
And universal darkness buries all.

Alexander Pope
Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale,
Where, in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs, And solid pudding against empty praise.

Alexander Pope
And proud his mistress' orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.

Alexander Pope