Alexander Pope

Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;
But shall the dignity of vice be lost?

Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;
But shall the dignity of vice be lost?

Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it
Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.

Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it
Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.

We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of
ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, read more

We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of
ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of
our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our
naked skins.

How index-learning turns no student pale,
Yet holds the eel of science by the tale.

How index-learning turns no student pale,
Yet holds the eel of science by the tale.

Pleas'd to the last he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.

Pleas'd to the last he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.