Ming sees his classmate Keesha reading in the common room of their dorm.

    Ming: Hi, Keesha. What are you reading?

    Keesha: Oh, just some quotations from Pope.

    Ming: The Pope? The leader of the Roman Catholic Church?

    Keesha: No! Sorry, I wasn't clear. I mean Alexander Pope, the 18th-century English poet.

    Ming: Oh, yeah, I've heard of him! So what did he say?

    Keesha: Lots! Some say he's the third most-quoted writer, after Shakespeare and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. For example, "To err is human, to forgive, divine."

    Ming: I thought "To err is human" was a Latin saying.

    Keesha: It is! Pope added the second half.

    Ming: What does it mean?

    Keesha: Well, the first part is, of course, "Everyone makes mistakes." But the second half means--I think--that forgiveness is sort of above the basics of human nature.

    Ming: I'll buy that! What's another one?

    Keesha: This is a good one: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

    Ming: Wasn't that a pop song?

    Keesha: Yes, back in the 1940s. But Pope originated it. It means sometimes an inexperienced person--a "fool"--will try something that a wiser, more experienced person--an "angel"--might choose not to do.

    Ming: Do you know the context?

    Keesha: Yes, this one--like the first one--is from his "Essay on Criticism." The "fools" here are the critics, who will attack any writer, no matter how good or bad he is.

    Ming: So he thinks the wiser critic would show more restraint?

    Keesha: I guess so. Here's another famous one, from the same essay: "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

    Ming: Yes, I've heard that. Kind of the same point as "Fools rush in?"

    Keesha: Yes, I think so. The longer quotation says that "shallow draughts" (or drinks) "intoxicate the brain / and drinking largely sobers us again."

    Ming: So it's better to learn more, and not just a little.

    Keesha: Yup! Here's another, from "An Essay on Man": "The proper study of mankind is Man."

    Ming: Meaning whatever we do, whatever we think, the most important thing to consider is "man," here meaning "all of humanity." Is that right?

    Keesha: Yeah, I think so.

    Ming: Time for one more?

    Keesha: Sure! "Hope springs eternal in the human breast; / Man never Is, but always To be blest."

    Ming: OK, I get the first line: we are always hopeful. But the second one is tough.

    Keesha: Yes, the language is compressed. Let me stretch it out: "People never feel that they are blessed; instead, they are always expecting to be blessed sometime in the future."

    Ming: Wow! That IS longer! But it does make more sense.

    Keesha: Glad I could help. See ya, Ming!

    Ming: Bye, Keesha.