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Which famous English sayings come from An Essay on Criticism?
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Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope, portrait by Thomas Hudson, c. 1739; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Alexander Pope’s didactic poem An Essay on Criticism, published in 1711, is renowned for its brilliantly polished epigrams that have become staples of the English language. While these maxims were not entirely original to Pope, his masterful phrasing cemented them in the proverbial heritage of literature.1
The most famous sayings from the work include:
- "A little learning is a dang’rous thing": A caution against the dangers of incomplete knowledge.1
- "To err is human; to forgive, divine": A reflection on the fallibility of people and the virtue of mercy.12
- "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread": A warning that it is unwise to act without sufficient knowledge or understanding of a situation.13