"To Err is Human, to Forgive Divine."
Are mortals urged through sacred lust of praise!
Ah! ne'er so dire a thirst of glory boast,
Nor in the critic let the man be lost.
Good nature and good sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive divine."
The lines above quoted are from "An Essay on Criticism" by Alexander Pope, and have become almost universally used to express charity towards the failings and follies of others.
The following well-known quotations are also from his writings:--
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
And drinking largely sobers us again."
"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow.
Act well your part, there all the honor lies."
An honest man's the noblest work of God."
The poetic endowments of Pope were of the first order; and there occur in his works, short passages that are among the gems of English poetry, and expressions that have become household words. In fact, no English poet has furnished so many brief quotations as he has.
Alexander Pope was born in London, on May 21 or 22, 1688, and died May 30, 1744. He was the son of a retired tradesman, and, being a very sickly child, was thrown much upon the companionship of books, which he read with eagerness and delight.
He commenced to write before he was twelve years old, and, before reaching manhood, had written many beautiful lines. He never became robust, and was very small, being only four feet tall. He was much persecuted and annoyed by some of his contemporaries, and many of his poems were very harshly criticised. He spent five years translating Homer's Iliad, by which he made five thousand pounds. He also translated the Odyssey. His chief works are "An Essay on Criticism," "Rape of the Lock," "Messiah," and "An Essay on Man."