Alexander Pope Quotes
Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.
Pope, Alexander. "Thoughts on Various Subjects." Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, vol. 2, Benjamin Motte, 1727, p. 353.
Alexander Pope is seen as one of the greatest English poets and the foremost poet of the early 18th century. He is best known for satirical and discursive poetry, including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, and for his translation of Homer. After Shakespeare, Pope is the second-most quoted writer in English, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, some of his verses having become popular in common parlance (e. g., damning with faint praise). He is considered a master of the heroic couplet.