--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: At every trifle take offense, that always…" description: "\"At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.\" — Alexander Pope" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png" --- # At every trifle take offense, that always shows great… ![“At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.” quote by Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png) > “At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.” [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Overreacting to minor insults reveals arrogance and lack of judgment. **In simple terms:** Petty offense shows pride. Key Takeaway Practice humility. Themes pride humility social conduct Mood critical reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - workplace - family gatherings - online comments Key Concepts self-awareness emotional intelligence Questions to Reflect On - Why do we magnify small slights? - How can we respond more calmly? A Different Perspective May overlook genuine grievances. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Great Pride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-pride-360884/) [Littles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) [Offence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/offence/) [Offense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/offense/) [Pride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pride/) [Shows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shows/) [Trifle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trifle/) [Trifle Offense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trifle-offense-1162880/) [Trifles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trifles/) ## Related quotes > [At every trifle take offence, that always shows great pride or little sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/at-every-trifle-take-offence-that-always-shows-great-pride-or-little/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [At every trifle, scorn to take offence; that always shows great pride, or little sense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/at-every-trifle-scorn-to-take-offence-that-always-shows-great-pride/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance, this great land of ordered liberty, for if we stumble and fall, freedom and civilization everywhere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-cabot-lodge/beware-how-you-trifle-with-your-marvelous-inheritance-this-great-land/) [Henry Cabot Lodge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-cabot-lodge/) > [Trifles make perfection but perfection is not a trifle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelangelo/trifles-make-perfection-but-perfection-is-not-a-trifle/) [Michelangelo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelangelo/) > [“In all my experience along the dirtiest ways of this dirty little world, I have never met with such a thing as a trifle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/in-all-my-experience-along-the-dirtiest-ways-of-this-dirty-little/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [A mere trifle consoles us for a mere trifle distresses us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/a-mere-trifle-consoles-us-for-a-mere-trifle-distresses-us/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelangelo/trifles-make-perfection-but-perfection-is-no-trifle/) [Michelangelo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelangelo/) > [A word, a look, an accent, may affect the destiny not only of individuals, but of nations. He is a bold man who calls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-carnegie/a-word-a-look-an-accent-may-affect-the-destiny-not-only-of/) [Andrew Carnegie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-carnegie/) > [A smile flickered across Coral’s face. “Have you ever noticed that once you have had a taste of certain sweets—raspberry trifle is my own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hoyt/a-smile-flickered-across-coral-s-face-have-you-ever-noticed-that-once/) [Elizabeth Hoyt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hoyt/) > [Time changes all things and cultivates even in herself an appreciation of irony, and, therefore, why shouldn't I have changed a trifle?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-branch-cabell/time-changes-all-things-and-cultivates-even-in-herself-an/) [James Branch Cabell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-branch-cabell/) > [Any trifle is enough to entertain two lovers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/any-trifle-is-enough-to-entertain-two-lovers/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Who gives a trifle meanly is meaner than the trifle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/who-gives-a-trifle-meanly-is-meaner-than-the-trifle/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [It’s a trifle. It’s got all of these layers. First there’s a layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam, then custard, which I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel/it-s-a-trifle-it-s-got-all-of-these-layers-first-there-s-a-layer-of/) [Rachel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel/) > [Revenge is a dish best served unexpectedly and from a distance - like a thrown trifle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-hardinge/revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-unexpectedly-and-from-a-distance-like-a/) [Frances Hardinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-hardinge/) > [A trifle is often pregnant with high importance; the prudent man neglects no circumstance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/a-trifle-is-often-pregnant-with-high-importance-the-prudent-man/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) ## More by Alexander Pope > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; To make mankind, in conscious virtue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/to-wake-the-soul-by-tender-strokes-of-art-to-raise-the-genius-and-to/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [A mighty maze! But not without a plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/a-mighty-maze-but-not-without-a-plan/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Let such teach others who themselves excel, And censure freely who have written well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/let-such-teach-others-who-themselves-excel-and-censure-freely-who/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, Welcome the coming, speed the going guest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/for-i-who-hold-sage-homer-s-rule-the-best-welcome-the-coming-speed/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/like-following-life-through-creatures-you-dissect-you-lose-it-in-the/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [When two people compliment each other with the choice of anything, each of them generally gets that which he likes least.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/when-two-people-compliment-each-other-with-the-choice-of-anything/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd and make the learned smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/such-labour-d-nothings-in-so-strange-a-style-amaze-th-unlearn-d-and/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/charms-strike-the-sight-but-merit-wins-the-soul/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [She went from opera, park, assembly, play, To morning walks, and prayers three hours a day. To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/she-went-from-opera-park-assembly-play-to-morning-walks-and-prayers/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [I am satisfied to trifle away my time, rather than let it stick by me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/i-am-satisfied-to-trifle-away-my-time-rather-than-let-it-stick-by-me/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [The greatest advantage I know of being thought a wit by the world is, that it gives one the greater freedom of playing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/the-greatest-advantage-i-know-of-being-thought-a-wit-by-the-world-is/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Then say not Man's imperfect,Heav'n in fault; Say rather, Man's as perfect ashe ought:](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/then-say-not-man-s-imperfect-heav-n-in-fault-say-rather-man-s-as/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same: Unerring nature, still divinely bright, One clear, unchanged,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/first-follow-nature-and-your-judgment-frame-by-her-just-standard/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Who shall decide when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/who-shall-decide-when-doctors-disagree-and-soundest-casuists-doubt/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) [Explore all 850 Alexander Pope quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) ## More Littles quotes > [You gotta have a little kid in you to play football.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-edwards/you-gotta-have-a-little-kid-in-you-to-play-football/) [Herman Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-edwards/) > [I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-don-t-understand-why-we-re-all-connected-wirelessly-via-a-little/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [ Brad \[Dourif\] would tell himself that he was not intentionally trying to mimic Jack Nicholson in any way. I think that actually bothers him… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-kirschner/brad-dourif-would-tell-himself-that-he-was-not-intentionally-trying/) [David Kirschner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-kirschner/) > [You smile upon your friend to-day, To-day his ills are over; You hearken to the lover's say, And happy is the lover. 'Tis late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-smile-upon-your-friend-to-day-to-day-his-ills-are-over-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [As a child, I had a lot of older gay men taking care of me. There's a trust there. I feel like little girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/as-a-child-i-had-a-lot-of-older-gay-men-taking-care-of-me-there-s-a/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [I remember that the bass was turned up slightly more on the mix from last week, and I thought that was good - or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ronson/i-remember-that-the-bass-was-turned-up-slightly-more-on-the-mix-from/) [Mark Ronson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ronson/) > [I always step on the plane with my right foot and touch the outside of the plane with my left hand. Sometimes you know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hope-davis/i-always-step-on-the-plane-with-my-right-foot-and-touch-the-outside/) [Hope Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hope-davis/) > [I was very lucky to get well known much later in life. You need to have flopped quite a few times to get a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-clooney/i-was-very-lucky-to-get-well-known-much-later-in-life-you-need-to/) [George Clooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-clooney/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [It's only a little difficult to say no. You've got to believe that the work you're doing is ultimately more useful to the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-sivers/it-s-only-a-little-difficult-to-say-no-you-ve-got-to-believe-that-the/) [Derek Sivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-sivers/) > [We're raising children who have little tolerance for disappointment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bren-brown/we-re-raising-children-who-have-little-tolerance-for-disappointment/) [Brené Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bren-brown/) > [Must I go bound while you go free Must I love a manwho doesn't love me Must I be born with so little art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/must-i-go-bound-while-you-go-free-must-i-love-a-manwho-doesn-t-love/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [The happy medium is television. And if you find a good suitor, you can do it for years. With movies, you roll the dice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-campbell/the-happy-medium-is-television-and-if-you-find-a-good-suitor-you-can/) [Bruce Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-campbell/) > [If I had my brothers I think with just a little bit of the correct marketing, I'd like to be almost exclusively in small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-bozzio/if-i-had-my-brothers-i-think-with-just-a-little-bit-of-the-correct/) [Terry Bozzio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-bozzio/) > [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) [Browse all 27,615 Littles quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alexander Pope" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always-shows-great-pride-or-little/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Littles" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always-shows-great-pride-or-little/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/237/alexander-pope-235_littles_at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always_2511800.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense.” — Alexander Pope", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alexander Pope", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "At every trifle take offense, that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always-shows-great-pride-or-little/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/at-every-trifle-take-offense-that-always-shows-great-pride-or-little/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```