“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

Circulates under Alexander Pope

Editorial status

altered

Pope wrote ‘A little learning’, not ‘A little knowledge’. The altered noun is small but changes the text of An Essay on Criticism.

A little learning is a dang'rous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

Earliest traceable appearance in this record: 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism.

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