“If the end of wit be not to render oneself agreeable, I shall scarce envy them any other use they can make of it.”

Setting sociability, not display, as the proper use of wit · Preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, 1692

• Conversation
• Courtesy
• Wit

“An epigram, it is true, is but a trifle, but so difficult a trifle that Rapin says it is enough to have made one good in one's lifetime.”

On the craft of the short form, and why a single success may be enough · Letter to John Dryden, about 1691

• Craft
• Poetry
• Wit

“They ought to be smooth, clear, tender, and passionate. The thoughts may be bold, more gay, and more elevated than in pastoral.”

His standard for the love elegy, as against the simpler pastoral · Preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, 1692

• Love
• Poetry
• Style