In Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Criticism,” which phrase describes a little learning as dangerous?

In Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Criticism,” the phrase is “A little learning is a dangerous thing.”

Pope uses the line near the beginning of the poem to warn against shallow understanding. He immediately advises readers to “Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring,” invoking the spring associated with the Muses and poetic inspiration. The point is not that learning itself is harmful, but that incomplete knowledge can create unwarranted confidence.

The poem was published anonymously in 1711 and is written in heroic couplets. It discusses literary judgment, poetic rules, imitation, wit, and the responsibilities of critics. Pope’s polished maxims helped make the poem a major example of eighteenth-century neoclassical verse.

The quotation is often misremembered as “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Pope’s wording is “a little learning,” and that exact form is the canonical answer. The line is one of many phrases from Pope that entered everyday English.