“Happy the man whose wish and care a few paternal acres bound, content to breathe his native air in his own ground.”

— Alexander Pope, "Ode on Solitude" (c. 1700)

About Alexander Pope

1688 – 1744

English poet, author of "An Essay on Criticism" and "The Rape of the Lock".

“To err is human, to forgive divine.”

“Men must be taught as if you taught them not, and things unknown propos'd as things forgot.”

“Years following years steal something ev'ry day. At last they steal us from ourselves away.”

“Where we find a difficulty we may always expect that a discovery awaits us. Where there is cover we hope for game.”

“They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.”

“A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.”

“Knowledge, that tendeth but to satisfaction, is but as a courtesan, which is for pleasure, and not for fruit or generation.”

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

“That which is most excellent, and is most to be desired by all happy, honest and healthy-minded men, is dignified leisure.”