Alexander Pope Quotes About Wit

Quotes about: Wit

• Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit a man; Simplicity, a child.

  Alexander Pope

  Children, Men, Simplicity

  'Epitaph: On Mr Gay in Westminster Abbey' (1733)

• Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet.

  Alexander Pope

  Running, Tilt, Weapons

  "The complete poetical works of Alexander Pope".

• True wit is nature to advantage dressed;
  What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

  Alexander Pope

  Nature, Tongue, Advantage

  "A Selection from the Poetry of Alexander Pope".

• Wit in conversation is only a readiness of thought and a facility of expression, or a quick conception and an easy delivery.

  Alexander Pope

  Expression, Easy, Conversation

  Alexander Pope (1812). “The works of Alexander Pope. With a selection of explanatory notes, and the account of his life by dr. Johnson”, p.233

• You beat your Pate, and fancy Wit will come: Knock as you please, there's no body at home.

  Alexander Pope

  Home, Body, Fancy

  "Epigram: You beat your pate" l. 1 (1732)

• What woeful stuff this madrigal would be, In some starved hackney sonneteer, or me! But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!

  Alexander Pope

  Happiness, Style, Would Be

  'An Essay on Criticism' (1711) l. 418

• True Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd; Something whose truth convinced at sight we find, That gives us back the image of our mind. As shades more sweetly recommend the light, So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Light, Sight, Giving

  Alexander Pope (2012). “Essay on Man and Other Poems”, p.12, Courier Corporation

• So vast is art, so narrow human wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Art, Science, Genius

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Dyce (1854). “The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with a life”, p.5

• Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true, But are not critics to their judgment, too?

  Alexander Pope

  Judgment, Wit, Critics

  Alexander Pope (1825). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: With a Sketch of the Author's Life”, p.49

• A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

  Alexander Pope

  Sarcastic, Dunces, Wit

  'The Dunciad' (1742) bk. 4, l. 90

• Wit is the lowest form of humor.

  Alexander Pope

  Humor, Literature, Form

• There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Simplicity

  Alexander Pope (1806). “The works of Alexander Pope. Containing the principal notes of drs. Warburton and Warton [&c.]. To which are added, some original letters, with additional observations, and memoirs, by W.L. Bowles”, p.64

• For wit and judgment often are at strife, Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife.

  Alexander Pope

  Men, Wife, Aids

  Alexander Pope (1848). “The Select Works of Alexander Pope: With the Life and Portrait of the Author”, p.54

• Modest plainness sets off sprightly wit,
  For works may have more with than does 'em good,
  As bodies perish through excess of blood.

  Alexander Pope

  Blood, Body, May

  Alexander Pope, William Warburton (1807). “The poetical works: with his last corrections, additions and improvements : with the life of the author ; embellished with superb engravings”, p.110

• The greatest advantage I know of being thought a wit by the world is, that it gives one the greater freedom of playing the fool.

  Alexander Pope

  Giving, World, Fool

  Alexander Pope (1812). “The works of Alexander Pope. With a selection of explanatory notes, and the account of his life by dr. Johnson”, p.230

• Poets like painters, thus unskilled to trace The naked nature and the living grace, With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part, And hide with ornaments their want of art. True wit is Nature to advantage dressed, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

  Alexander Pope

  Art, Jewels, Grace

  An Essay on Criticism l. 297 (1711)

• Some to conceit alone their taste confine,
  And glittering thoughts struck out at ev'ry line;
  Pleas'd with a work where nothing's just or fit;
  One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Lines, Taste, Chaos

  Alexander Pope (1711). “An Essay on Criticism”, p.18

• There still remains to mortify a wit The many-headed monster of the pit.

  Alexander Pope

  Acting, Monsters, Pits

  'Imitations of Horace' Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 304

• Fine sense and exalted sense are not half so useful as common sense. There are forty men of wit for one man of sense; and he that will carry nothing about him but gold, will be every day at a loss for want of readier change.

  Alexander Pope

  Loss, Men, Common Sense

  Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson (1812). “The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq., in Verse and Prose: With a Selection of Explanatory Notes”, p.227

• The life of a wit is a warfare upon earth.

  Alexander Pope

  Warfare, Earth, Wit

  Alexander Pope, William Warburton (Bp. of Gloucester), Colley Cibber (1804). “The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with his last corrections, additions and improvements”, p.61

• But honest instinct comes a volunteer; Sure never to o'er-shoot, but just to hit, While still too wide or short in human wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Volunteer, Honest, Instinct

  Alexander Pope (1873). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope Edited with Notes and Introductory Memoir by Adolphus William Ward”, p.210

• Some have at first for wits, then poets passed, Turned critics next, and proved plain fools at last.

  Alexander Pope

  Lasts, Next, Fool

  'An Essay on Criticism' (1711) l. 36

• Wit and judgment often are at strife.

  Alexander Pope

  Judgment, Strife, Wit

  Alexander Pope (1822). “The Works of Alexander Pope”, p.241

• Fool, 'tis in vain from wit to wit to roam: Know, sense, like charity, begins at home.

  Alexander Pope

  Home, Charity, Fool

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Dyce (1859). “The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with a life”, p.212

• Some men's wit is like a dark lantern, which serves their own turn and guides them their own way, but is never known (according to the Scripture phrase) either to shine forth before men, or to glorify their Father in heaven.

  Alexander Pope

  Father, Dark, Men

  Alexander Pope (1847). “The works of Alexander Pope, with notes and illustrations, by himself and others. To which are added, a new life of the author [&c.] by W. Roscoe”, p.389

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