In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.

Alexander Pope
About This Quote

Pride has been a problem for all of us at some point in our lives. We all feel pride, whether we admit it or not. In fact, pride is one of the seven deadly sins. In this quote, William Blake is describing the nature of pride as a sin that we must overcome.

When we feel pride, we think we are better than everyone else and we want to be "angels" or "gods." However, when we attempt to reach those heights, we rebel and cause problems for ourselves and others. Pride is an important part of the human experience and it has nothing to do with being better than other people.

Source: An Essay On Man & Satires

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More Quotes By Alexander Pope
  1. If I am right, Thy grace impart Still in the right to stay; If I am wrong, O, teach my heart To find that better way!
  2. Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.
  3. A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
  4. Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
  5. Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always To be blest. The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
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