Alexander Pope

Is not absence death to those who love?

Is not absence death to those who love?

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.

Never elated while one man's oppress'd;
Never dejected while another's blessed.

Never elated while one man's oppress'd;
Never dejected while another's blessed.

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?
Alas! not all the blood, of all the Howards.

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?
Alas! not all the blood, of all the Howards.

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.