William Alexander

Scottish courtier and poet
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William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling (c. 1567 in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire – 12 February 1640) was a Scottish poet.

Of all the tyrants that the world affords, / Our own affections are the fiercest lords

Quotes edit

Francis Turner Palgrave, ed., The Golden Treasury (London & Glasgow: Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1861)
  • O if thou knew’st how thou thyself dost harm,
    And dost prejudge thy bliss, and spoil my rest;
    Then thou would’st melt the ice out of thy breast
    And thy relenting heart would kindly warm.
L. E. Kastner & H. B. Charlton, eds., The Poetical Works of Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, Vol. 2 (Manchester University Press, 1929)
  • The weaker sex, to piety more prone
    • Doomsday, Hour v, lv

A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words (1924) edit

W. Guerney Benham, A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words (1914), p. 350
  • What life refused, to gain by death he thought:
    For life and death are but indifferent things,
    And of themselves not to be shunned nor sought,
    But for the good or ill that either brings.
    • Tragedy of Darius.
  • Death is the port where all may refuge find,
    The end of labour, entry unto rest.
    • Tragedy of Darius.
  • What thing so good which not some harm may bring?
    Even to be happy is a dangerous thing.
    • Tragedy of Darius. Chorus 1.
  • Of all the tyrants that the world affords,
    Our own affections are the fiercest lords.
    • Julius Cæsar.
  • Although my hap be hard, my heart is high.
    • Aurora. Sonnet 30.
  • To love and be beloved, this is the good,
    Which for most sovereign all the world will prove.
    • Aurora. Sonnet 44.
  • Times daily change and we likewise in them;
    Things out of sight do straight forgotten die.
    • Aurora. Sonnet 63.
  • I hope, I fear, resolved, and yet I doubt,
    I'm cold as ice, and yet I burn as fire;
    I wot not what, and yet I much desire,
    And trembling too, am desperately stout.
    • Aurora. Sonnet 68.
  • Though I was long in coming to the light,
    Yet may I mount to fortune's highest height.
    • Aurora. Sonnet 98.
  • I sing the sabbath of eternal rest.
    • Domesday. The First Hour. St. 1.
  • When policy puts on religious cloak.
    • Domesday. The Second Hour. St. 22.
  • Of all things that are feared, the least is death.
    • Domesday. The Second Hour. St. 73.
  • Pride hated stands, and doth unpitied fall.
    • Domesday. The Fourth Hour. St. 85.
  • The weaker sex, to piety more prone.
    • Domesday. The Fifth Hour. St. 55.
  • His birthright sold, some pottage so to gain.
    • Domesday. The Sixth Hour. St. 39.
  • That queen of nations, absolutely great.
    • Domesday. The Sixth Hour. St. 77.
    • [Rome].
  • That generous plainness proves the better way.
    • Domesday. The Seventh Hour. St. 35.
  • Vile avarice and pride, from Heaven accurst,
    In all are ill, but in a church-man worst.
    • Domesday. The Seventh Hour. St. 86.
  • Lo, one who loved true honour more than fame,
    A real goodness, not a studied name.
    • Domesday. The Eighth Hour. St. 109.
  • Words but direct, example must allure.
    • Domesday. The Ninth Hour. St. 113.
  • That fatal sergeant, Death, spares no degree.
    • Domesday. The Ninth Hour. St. 114.
  • The world's chief idol, nurse of fretting cares,
    Dumb trafficker, yet understood o'er all.
    • Domesday. The Tenth Hour. St. 29.
  • Despair and confidence both banish fear.
    • Domesday. The Tenth Hour. St. 55.

External link edit

 
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