Alexander Pope

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;
Willing read more

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend,
A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend.

The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.

And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.

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?

Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counsels and dark politics.

Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counsels and dark politics.