John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
3408 Alexander Pope 1688-1744 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 3408 |
| AUTHOR: | Alexander Pope (1688–1744) |
| QUOTATION: | Chaos of thought and passion, all confused; Still by himself abused or disabused; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,— The glory, jest, and riddle of the world. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 13. |
| Note 1. What a chimera, then, is man! what a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.—Blaise Pascal: Thoughts, chap. x. [back] |