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It is the sternest philosophy, but on the whole the truest, that, in the wide arena of the world, failure and success are not accidents, as we so frequently suppose, but the strictest justice.

Alexander Smith

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Alexander Smith
Age: 36 †
Born: 1830
Born: December 31
Died: 1867
Died: January 5
Poet
Cille Mheàrnaig
Failure
Sternest
Philosophy
Strictest
Justice
Truest
Success
Arena
Whole
Frequently
World
Accidents
Suppose
Wide

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Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse. If we attempt to steal a glimpse of its features it disappears.
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Every day travels toward death the last only arrives at it.
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Trees are your best antiques
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A tender sadness drops upon my soul, like the soft twilight dropping on the world.
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Stirling, like a huge brooch, clasps Highlands and Lowlands together.
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One never hugs one's good luck so affectionately as when listening to the relation of some horrible misfortunes which has overtaken others.
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If you wish to preserve your secret, wrap it up in frankness.
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The saddest thing that befalls a soul is when it loses faith in god and woman.
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I go into my library and all history unrolls before me.
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Yet through all, we know this tangled skein is in the hands of One, Who sees the end from the beginning: He shall unravel all.
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Not on the stage alone, in the world also, a man's real character comes out best in his asides.
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Death, which we are accustomed to consider an evil, really acts for us the friendliest part, and takes away the commonplace of existence.
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To sit for one's portrait is like being present at one's own creation.
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Style, after all, rather than thought, is the immortal thing in literature.
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Men praise poverty, as the African worships Mumbo Jumbo--from terror of the malign power, and a desire to propitiate at.
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I would rather be remembered by a song than by a victory.
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Some books are drenchèd sandsOn which a great soul's wealth lies all in heaps,Like a wrecked argosy.
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The sun was down, And all the west was paved with sullen fire. I cried, Behold! the barren beach of hell At ebb of tide.
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If we were to live here always, with no other care than how to feed, clothe, and house ourselves, life would be a very sorry business. It is immeasurably heightened by the solemnity of death.
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