Pope had been flattered till he thought himself one of the moving powers of the system of life. When he talked of laying down his pen, those who sat round him intreated and implored; and self-love did not suffer him to suspect that they went away and laughed.

Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.

Indolence is the devil's cushion.

Cowardice encroaches fast upon such as spend their lives in company of persons higher than themselves.

...it will not always happen that the success of a poet is proportionate to his labor.

Many a man is mad in certain instances, and goes through life without having it perceived. For example, a madness has seized a person of supposing himself obliged literally to pray continually; had the madness turned the opposite way, and the person thought it a crime ever to pray, it might not improbably have continued unobserved.

Age looks with anger on the temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age.