| John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
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| 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. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| | 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] |
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