Quote#Wisdom
Therefore they who say our thoughts are not our own because they…
Quote byAlexander Pope · 1688–1744
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717), Preface.
English (original)
Therefore they who say our thoughts are not our own because they resemble the Ancients, may as well say our faces are not our own, because they are like our Fathers: And indeed it is very unreasonable, that people should expect us to be Scholars, and yet be angry to find us so.
— Alexander Pope
More from Alexander Pope
'Tis fixed, the irrevocable doom of Jove; No force can bend me, no persuasion move.
A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.
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.
Well, if our author in the wife offends He has a husband that will make amends; He draws him gentle, tender, and forgiving, And sure such kind good creatures may be living.
They dream in Courtship, but in Wedlock wake.