Misfortune

Perhaps nothing is more destructive to the peace, and even the comfortable existence of society, than detraction.
~ William Allen, in Life of William Allen, with Selections from His Correspondence, Volume I (1846). Chapter IV

Little do the faculty imagine the misery and bitterness to life through the parasite of corpulence or obesity.
~ William Banting, Letter On Corpulence, Addressed to the Public. Fourth Edition (1869).

[Gaming is] a kind of tacit confession that the company engaged therein do, in general, exceed the bounds of their respective fortunes; and therefore they cast lots to determine upon whom the ruin shall at present fall, that the rest may be saved a little longer.
~ William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-69). Book IV, Chapter XIII: Of Offences Against the Public Health, and the Public Police Or Economy

Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.
~ William Blake, from The Pickering Manuscript (c. 1803). Auguries of Innocence

For the tear is an intellectual thing,
And a sigh is the sword of an Angel King;
And the bitter groan of a martyr's woe
As an arrow from the Almighty's bow.
~ William Blake, The Gray Monk

One rotten sheep spoils the whole flock.
~ William Blake, from Poetical Sketches (1783). King Edward the Third

See what it is to play unfair!
Where cheating is, there's mischief there.
~ William Blake, from Poetical Sketches (1783). Miscellaneous Poems: Blind Man's Buff

That betwixt the cradle and grave
It only once smil'd can be;
And, when it once is smil'd,
There's an end to all misery.
~ William Blake, from The Pickering Manuscript (c. 1803). The Smile

The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your losses. That requires intelligence; and it makes the difference between a man of sense and a fool.
~ William Bolitho

If you're complaining more than once a month, you might just be giving in to habitual griping, which doesn't serve you. You're an "ouch" looking for a hurt.
~ Will Bowen, A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted (2007). Chapter 1. I Complain Therefore I Am

Life is a Humbug only because we make it so.
~ William Cowper Brann, in Brann the Iconoclast: A Collection of the Writings of W.C. Brann, Vol. I (1898). Humbugs and Humbuggery

None are completely wretched but the great.
~ William Broome, Epistle to Mr. Fenton (1726).

That pompous misery of being great!
~ William Broome, Poems on Several Occasions (1727). A Poem on the Seat of War in Flanders, Chiefly with Relation to the Seiges: With the Praise of Peace and Retirement (1710)

Now don't fly high,
'cause it hurts when you hit the ground.
~ William Lee Conley ("Big Bill") Broonzy, Whiskey And Good Times Blues (Song, 1939).

Thirteen is an unlucky number when judge and jury are against you.
~ William Hardcastle Browne, Odd Derivations of Words, Phrases, Slang, Synonyms and Proverbs (1900).

Dreary are the years when the eye can look no longer
With delight on nature, or hope on human kind.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Thirty Poems (1864). The Third of November, 1861

God hath yoked to guilt
Her pale tormentor, misery.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1821). Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood (originally printed in the North American Review: 1817; written in 1815)

The best way to keep something bad from happening is to see it ahead of time, and you can't see it if you refuse to face the possibility.
~ William S. Burroughs, in Crawdaddy! magazine (June 1975). Rock Magic: Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, And a search for the elusive Stairway to Heaven

There is intrigue among the souls, and treachery. No worse fate can befall a man than to be surrounded by traitor souls.
~ William S. Burroughs, The Western Lands (1987).

The dogs howl curses at me, and hunt me down the road.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from Farm Festivals (1881). The Festival Of Industry; Or, The County Fair, V. (The Tramp's Story)

Worm or beetle -- drought or tempest -- on a farmer's land may fall;
But for first-class ruination, trust a mortgage 'gainst them all.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from Farm Festivals (1881). The Festival Of Industry; Or, The County Fair, V. (The Tramp's Story)

A great misfortune of the present day is, that every one is, in his own estimate, raised above his real state of life: every one seems to think himself entitled, if not to title and great estate, at least to live without work.
~ William Cobbett, Advice to Young Men: And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life (1829). Letter I: To A Youth

It is by attempting to reach the top at a single leap that so much misery is produced in the world.
~ William Cobbett

In the old days, when things got rough, what you did was without.
~ William John ("Bill") Copeland

But misery still delights to trace
Its semblance in another's case.
~ William Cowper, in The Life and Posthumous Writings of William Cowper, Esq., Volume II (1803). The Castaway (20 March 1799).

[D]ropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up.
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book III. The Garden

I wish thy lot, now bad, still worse, my friend,
For when at worst, they say, things always mend!
~ William Cowper, in The Life and Posthumous Writings of William Cowper, Esq., Volume II (1803). Appendix. No. 4. Epigrams, Translated from the Latin of Owen: To a Friend in Distress

I only know that all is lost, and that nothing can help me unless I inherit money, strike oil or go to work.
~ Will (William Jacob) Cuppy, How to Be a Hermit or, A Bachelor Keeps House (1929). Coffee, Please!

Can I admire the statue great,
When living men starve at its feet!
Can I admire the park's green tree,
A roof for homeless misery!
~ William Henry (W.H.) Davies, from Farewell to Poesy (1910). In The Country

In my experience tact is usually worse than the brutalities of truth.
~ (William) Robertson Davies, World of Wonders (1975).

[W]e all bring ill-luck to others, you know, often without in the least recognizing it.
~ (William) Robertson Davies, Fifth Business (1970).

They had no guile. If somebody said something to hurt them, they'd punch themselves. They'd hurt themselves because of what somebody else did to them. I learned about self-destruction and the life force there - battling it out, all the time.
~ Bill C. Davis (of working with emotionally disturbed and retarded adults), in The New York Times (30 December 1984). I Had These Dialogues With Myself

This heart of mine is like to break for grief and care;
Yet the whole thing's not worth one sprat to me, I swear.
~ Guillem de Peitius (aka Guillem, Duke of Aquitaine & William the Ninth), The Nothing Song

I'm a thousand generations
Of poverty and starvation
I'm the dog
Of the United Nations
I am the blues.
~ William James "Willie" Dixon, I Am the Blues: The Willie Dixon Story (1989). Introduction

They [Old Testament prophets] offered to the unfortunate of the earth a vision of brotherhood that became the precious and unforgotten heritage of many generations.
~ William James "Will" Durant, The Story of Civilization, Volume I (1935). Our Oriental Heritage

[T]hose who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle.
~ William James "Will" Durant, The Story of Philosophy: the Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers (1926).

[I]t is only in degree that any improvement of society could prevent wastage of human powers; the waste even in a fortunate life, the isolation even of a life rich in intimacy, cannot but be felt deeply, and is the central feeling of tragedy. And anything of value must accept this because it must not prostitute itself; its strength is to be prepared to waste itself, if it does not get the opportunity.
~ William Empson, from Some Versions of Pastoral (1935). Proletarian Literature

You don't want madhouse and the whole thing there.
~ William Empson, from Collected Poems (rev. edition, 1955). Let it Go

Ah, that is the misery of human affairs, that the stress comes and has its consequence when the system is least prepared to receive it.
~ William Maxwell Evarts, Speech for the Defense at the Impeachment of President Johnson (29 April 1868).

[A] man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you'd think misfortune would get tired, but then time is your misfortune ...
~ William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (October 1929). June Second, 1910

Never cry over spilt milk, because it may have been poisoned.
~ W.C. Fields, quoted in W.C. Fields and Me (1971).

Sometimes you wake up in the morning and wish your parents had never met.
~ Bill Fitch (during a losing run).

We strayed from what got us to the top of the mountain, and it cost us greatly.
~ William Clay Ford, Jr., The Associated Press (12 January 2002). Beleaguered Ford Cuts 35,000 Jobs

In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.
~ J. William Fulbright

There is often truth and justice in the grumble. Truth and justice, both.
~ William Channing Gannett, Blessed Be Drudgery: And Other Papers (1890). Blessed Be Drudgery: I

If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
~ John William Gardner, No Easy Victories (1968).

Gifted as I am with a beauty which probably has not its rival on earth -- I am, nevertheless, utterly and completely miserable.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Patience: Or, Bunthorne's Bride (1881 opera).

I'm not apologizing for anything I did. What I am apologizing for is any negative attention which has been brought to the city of El Paso, the university and the basketball program. ... What I want to say is, I was not driving while intoxicated.
~ Billy Gillispie, Statement at News Conference (27 January 2003).

The danger of keeping bad company, arises principally from our aptness to imitate and catch the manners and sentiments of others.
~ William Gilpin, from Lectures on the Catechism of the Church of England (1779). Part II. Lecture XXI

It is almost impossible for anyone, even the most ineffective among us, to continue to choose misery after becoming aware that it is a choice.
~ William Glasser, M.D.

A tragedy like this could have torn our country apart. But instead it has united us, and we have become a family.
~ Billy Graham, Address at the Episcopal National Cathedral, Washington DC (14 September 2001). National Day of Prayer and Remembrance

Few are made better by prosperity, whom afflictions make worse.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

People are not soured by misfortune, but by the reception they meet with in it.
~ William Hazlitt, in Monthly Magazine (January 1827). On the Want of Money

If you think of the misery around you, that must remain around you for ever and ever, as long as you live, you have your choice -- to go mad and be put into an asylum, or go mad and devote yourself to society.
~ William Dean Howells, Through the Eye of the Needle (1907). XIX

I have been many things, working for a living, and sometimes doing things just for pleasure; but somehow, whatever I did, it never seemed quite the right and proper thing to do -- it never quite satisfied me. I always wanted to do something else.
~ William Henry ("W.H.") Hudson, A Little Boy Lost (1905). Chapter I. The Home On The Great Plain

The idea we form of a misfortune is ever somewhat different from the misfortune itself, when it appears in all its frightful certainty. We must trust in nothing so little, and must labour for nothing so unceasingly, as for the strengthening of our soul and for self-government, both of which are the only sure foundations of earthly happiness.
~ Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Beautiful Thoughts from German and Spanish Authors (1868).

What's the use, Baby? I'm a bum.
~ William Motter Inge, Picnic, a Summer Romance in Three Acts (1953).

Be willing to have it so; acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
~ William James

Some people are so fond of ill luck that they run halfway to meet it.
~ Douglas William Jerrold, in The Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold (1859). Meeting Troubles Halfway

Well so, here I am at the end of the road
Where do I go from here?
~ Billy Joel, in Cold Spring Harbor (1971 album). Got To Begin Again

By their talk to each other they understood that they shared a belief in the brotherhood of the desolate; yet in the scars of their eyes they confirmed that no such fraternity had ever existed, that the only brotherhood they belonged to was the one that asked the enduring question: How do I get through the next twenty minutes?
~ William J. Kennedy, Ironweed (1983).

Time to go take a header off the bridge. But after a while you stand up, wipe the frost out of your ear, go someplace to get warm, bum a nickel for coffee, and then start walkin' toward somewheres else that ain't near no bridge.
~ William J. Kennedy, Ironweed (1983).

Lust will make a fool of any man, but it is only love that can truly ruin him.
~ William Lashner, Fatal Flaw (2003).

Almost all the Mischiefs which Mankind groan under, arise from their suffering themselves to be led by the Nose, without a proper Freedom of Thought and Examination.
~ William Livingston, The Independent Reflector (22 February 1753). Of Party Divisions

No signs of life were anywhere about, and the thought of our hard struggles between life and death to go out and return, with the fruitless results that now seemed apparent, was almost more than human heart could bear. When should we know their fate? When should we find their remains, and how learn of their sad history if we ourselves should live to get back again to settlements and life?
~ William Lewis Manly, Death Valley in '49: The Autobiography of a Pioneer (1894). Chapter X: Death Valley

The truth is, we owe a large part of our happiness to our mistakes.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World: Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). Chapter I. Success and Failure

Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate mother.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, from A Writer's Notebook (1949). 1896 entry

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage (1915). Chapter 51

[T]he world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willingly avoids the sight of distress.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence (1919). Chapter XVI

[W]e learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (1938).

Don't Care is the fertile soil which raises a large crop of vain regrets.
~ Will M. Maupin, from Whether Common or Not (1903). Prose Selections. Brain Leaks

People don't ever seem to realise that doing what's right's no guarantee against misfortune.
~ William McFee, Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul (1916). Book Two. The City

The news media are, for the most part, the bringers of bad news. ... And it's not entirely the media's fault -- bad news gets higher ratings and sells more papers than good news.
~ Peter McWilliams

The most pitiful human ailment is a birdseed heart.
~ Wilson Mizner, in The Fabulous Wilson Mizner (1935).

The strongest tower has not the highest wall,
Think well of this, when you sit at home.
~ William Morris, from The Earthly Paradise (1868-70). The Story of Cupid and Psyche

It has been said that misfortune sharpens our wits, but ... it often simply dulls them.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882).

It is so easy to prove that the man who is down and under, deserves to be down and under. In the first place, he is down there, isn't he? And that is three-fourths of the argument to the ordinary mind; for the ordinary mind does not seek ultimate causes.
~ William Pickens, from Negro Orators and Their Orations (1925). The Kind of Democracy the Negro Expects

In the darkest hour through which a human soul can pass, whatever else is doubtful, this at least is certain. If there be no God and no future state, yet even then, it is better to be generous than selfish, better to be chaste than licentious, better to be true than false, better to be brave than to be a coward. Blessed beyond all earthly blessedness is the man who, in the tempestuous darkness of the soul, has dared to hold fast to these venerable landmarks.
~ Frederick William (F.W.) Robertson

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
~ Will Rogers

It is not easy to accept the premise that one of life's basic conditions is inescapable suffering, true though this proves to be.
~ Nancy Wilson Ross, Buddhism: A Way of Life and Thought (1980).

The quiet shaft of ridicule oftimes does more than argument.
~ William Sanders Scarborough, The Educated Negro and His Mission (1903).

A heavy heart bears not a humble tongue.
~ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Act V, scene ii

A little fire is quickly trodden out;
Which being suffer'd, rivers cannot quench.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part III

A plague o' both your houses!
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act III, scene i

A rotten case abides no handling.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part II. Act IV, scene i

A very ancient and fish-like smell.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act II, scene ii

Abstinence engenders maladies.
~ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Act IV, scene iii

All is not well;
I doubt some foul play.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene ii

[A]nd oft my jealousy
Shapes faults that are not.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act III, scene iii

Beware the ides of March.
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act I, scene ii

Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I

Et tu, Brute!
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act III, scene i

Fill all thy bones with aches.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act I, scene ii

[G]ive me no counsel:
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act V, scene i

How all occasions do inform against me.
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act IV, scene iv

I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard
begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard
in valour, in every thing illegitimate.
~ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida. Act V, scene vii

I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act V, scene ii

I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act IV, scene i

Like a dull actor now
I have forgot my part and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act V, scene iii

Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,
Take thou what course thou wilt!
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act III, scene ii

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act II, scene ii

My desolation does begin to make
A better life.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act V, scene ii

O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene v

O mischief, thou art swift,
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act V, scene i

O, teach me how I should forget to think.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act I, scene i

On fortune's cap we are not the very button.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, scene ii

[P]acing through the forest,
Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act IV, scene iii

She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange,
'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act I, scene iii

That he is mad, 't is true: 't is true 't is pity;
And pity 't is 't is true.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, scene ii

The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue!
~ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida. Act II, scene iii

The eagle suffers little birds to sing,
And is not careful what they mean thereby,
Knowing that with the shadow of his wings
He can at pleasure stint their melody.
~ William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus. Act IV, scene iv

The nature of bad news infects the teller.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act I, scene ii

The worst is not,
So long as we can say, "This is the worst."
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear. Act IV, scene i

That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 70

[T]hough those that
are betray'd
Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor
Stands in worse case of woe.
~ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act III, scene iv

To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act I, scene iii

Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act II, scene i

Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gather'd.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 124

[W]hat's more miserable than discontent?
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act III, scene i

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29

Yield not thy neck
To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind
Still ride in triumph over all mischance.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part III. Act III, scene iii

Now as the light changes,and the car takes off, the little old lady turns, gives me the finger, and let's fly with "Picard rules! Kirk's an asshole!" I swear to God. Can you imagine?
~ William Shatner

I think it's unfortunate to have critics for friends.
~ William Styron, Interview in The Paris Review, Issue 5 (Spring 1954). The Art of Fiction No. 5

I have been made to suffer so cruelly, that I am almost made mad sometimes. I can't stay still in any place, but wander about always restless and unhappy.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1848). Chapter LXV. Full of Business and Pleasure

If success is rare and slow, everybody knows how quick and easy ruin is.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1848). Chapter XXVIII. Who Played on the Piano Captain Dobbin Bought?

To sit down and lament and lose heart under any circumstances is to give up the race of life.
~ William Makepeace Thayer, Success: Oracle of the Age (1892). CV. Adapting One's Self to Circumstances

Suffering is overrated. It doesn't teach you anything.
~ Bill Veeck, Jr., quoted in The Washington Post (31 May 1981).

[T]he use of money and the fear of celestial powers have been the two main baleful influences in civilization.
~ William Wallace, M.A., Epicureanism (1880). Chapter VI. The Natural World

Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow.
~ William Arthur Ward

Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (9 December 1988).

Often it takes some calamity to make us live in the present. Then suddenly we wake up and see all the mistakes we have made.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (17 April 1988).

Who climbs the mountain does not always climb.
The winding road slants downward many a time;
Yet each descent is higher than the last.
Has thy path fallen? That will soon be past.
Beyond the curve the way leads up and on.
Think not thy goal forever lost or gone.
Keep moving forward; if thine aim is right
Thou canst not miss the shining mountain height.
Who would attain to summits still and fair,
Must nerve himself through valleys of despair.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from New Thought Pastels (1906). Climbing

Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!
~ Kenneth Charles Williams (as Julius Caesar), in Carry On Cleo (1964 film).

This is an ill-omened year!
~ Tad Williams, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Book 3 (July 1994). To Green Angel Tower, Part 2

You think of yourself as having the only problems, as being the only one who is disappointed. But just look around you and you will see lots of people as disappointed as you are.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1944). Scene Seven

Don't look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you'll know you're dead.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, in the London Observer (26 January 1958).

Things have a way of turning out so badly.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1944). Scene Seven

Here it is spring again
and I still a young man!
I am late at my singing.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). The Late Singer

I pick the hair from her eyes
and watch her misery
with compassion.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). Complaint

Remorse is a virtue in that it is a stirrer up of the emotions but it is a folly to accept it is a criticism of conduct.
~ William Carlos Williams, Kora in Hell: Improvisations (1920). V

What is more pretentiously
useless
or about which
we more pride ourselves?
It leads as often as not
to our undoing.
~ William Carlos Williams, The Sparrow

The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
~ Edward Osborne (E.O.) Wilson, Biophilia (1984).

I have ever had so little Faith for Apologies, that I rather believ'd they did more hurt than good; and for the most part, left things in a worse condition than they found them.
~ John Wilson, The Cheats (1662). The Author to the Reader

Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark,
And shares the nature of infinity.
~ William Wordsworth, The Borderers (1795-96).

Misfortunes are least dreadful when most near:
'Tis less to undergo the ill, than fear.
~ William Wycherley, Love in a wood; or St. James's Park (1672). Act III, scene iv

The eagerness of our desire is often the disappointment of our hopes.
~ William Wycherley, in The Posthumous Works of William Wycherley, Esq. in Prose and Verse (1728). Maxims and Reflections

All our follies are from the drowsiness of the will.
~ William Butler Yeats, in Memoirs. Autobiography -- First Draft Journal (1972).