Know then thyself, presume not God to scan!

The story of Alexander Pope and I was love at first sight! From the very first verse I read from him, I was captured by the beauty and power of his writing. I guess that is not surprising, he is known to be the third most frequently quoted writer in the English language after Shakespeare and Tennyson, but I guess out mutual interest in epic is the reason behind my special interest in him (he is the translator of Homer's Iliad into English). I had once quoted a part of An Essay on Criticism and here is another piece from "An Essay on Man" (You can read the complete Epistle II here).

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd;
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 hurl'd:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!