Alexander Pope

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Of fight or fly,
This choice is left ye, to resist or die.

Of fight or fly,
This choice is left ye, to resist or die.

I was not born for Courts or great affairs;
I pay my debts, believe, and say my pray'rs.

I was not born for Courts or great affairs;
I pay my debts, believe, and say my pray'rs.

Good sense which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no science, fairly worth the seven.

Good sense which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no science, fairly worth the seven.

To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted read more

To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company.
Go wiser thou! and in thy scale of sense
Weigh thy opinion against Providence.