# William Alexander

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.