. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare
and Tennyson. Pope is famous for his use of the heroic couplet
.
Pope was born to Alexander Pope Senior (1646–1717), a linen merchant of Plough Court, Lombard Street, London, and his wife Edith (née Turner) (1643–1733), who were both Catholics.
Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air In his own ground.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie.
They dream in Courtship, but in Wedlock wake.
The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole Can never be a mouse of any soul.
Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies, And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.
Histories are more full of Examples of the Fidelity of dogs than of Friends.
I am his Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd, Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told; And all who told it, added something new, And all who heard it, made Enlargements too, In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew.
Nor Fame I slight, nor her favors call; She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.