William Alexander

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

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

Quotes

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.
  • Aurora. Sonnet 33

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)

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.