William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling Quotes

Pride hated stands, and doth unpitied fall.

Though I was long in coming to the light,
Yet may I mount to fortune's highest height.

I sing the sabbath of eternal rest.

That fatal sergeant, Death, spares no degree.

The weaker sex, to piety more prone

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.

What thing so good which not some harm may bring?
Even to be happy is a dangerous thing.

Lo, one who loved true honour more than fame,
A real goodness, not a studied name.

Times daily change and we likewise in them;
Things out of sight do straight forgotten die.

Death is the port where all may refuge find,
The end of labour, entry unto rest.

Vile avarice and pride, from Heaven accurst,
In all are ill, but in a church-man worst.

When policy puts on religious cloak.

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

The world's chief idol, nurse of fretting cares,
Dumb trafficker, yet understood o'er all.

To love and be beloved, this is the good,
Which for most sovereign all the world will prove.