Quotation by Alexander Pope

Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
Alexander Pope (1688–1744), British satirical poet. Lord Hervey, in Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, l. 308 (1735).

The line has passed into common usage, and achieved notoriety in the 1960s when it was used to head the London Times leader July 1, 1967, on Mick Jagger and Keith Richard's arrest on drugs charges—an article which was thought to have contributed to their acquittal.
Surprise me with a
The Columbia World of Quotations © 1996, Columbia University Press.
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