INCONSTANCY.
Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
And as the air blows it to me again,
Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
And yielding to another when it blows,
Commanded always by the greater gust;
Such is the lightness of you common men.
King Henry VI., Pt. III. Act iii. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore;
To one thing constant never.
Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
There is no music in a voice
That is but one, and still the same;
Inconstancy is but a name
To fright poor lovers from a better choice.
Shepherd's Holiday. J. RUTTER.
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leafy.
Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
Love ne'er should die;…
One object lost, another should succeed;
And all our life be love.
Pastorals. T. BROWN.
There are three things a wise man will not trust:
The wind, the sunshine of an April day,
And woman's plighted faith.
Madoc. R. SOUTHEY.
Who trusts himself to woman or to waves
Should never hazard what he fears to lose.
Governor of Cyprus. J. OLDMIXON.
Away, away—you're all the same,
A flattering, smiling, jilting throng!
O, by my soul, I burn with shame,
To think I've been your slave so long!
Song. T. MOORE.
Frailty, thy name is woman!
Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
HAMLET.—Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?
OPHELIA.—'Tis brief, my lord.
HAMLET.—As woman's love.
Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Framed to make women false.
Othello, Act i. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
To beguile many, and be beguiled by one.
Othello, Act iv. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEAKE.
Or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears;—why she, even she
(O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer) married with my uncle,
My father's brother.
Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Trust not a man: we are by nature false,
Dissembling, subtle, cruel and inconstant;
When a man talks of love, with caution hear him;
But if he swears, he'll certainly deceive thee.
The Orphan. T. OTWAY.
Nay, women are frail too;
Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves;
Which are as easy broke as they make forms.
Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
In part to blame is she,
Which hath without consent bin only tride:
He comes too neere that comes to be denide.
A Wife. SIR T. OVERBURY.
The heart!—Yes, I wore it
As sign and as token
Of a love that once gave it,
A vow that was spoken;
But a love, and a vow, and a heart,
Can be broken.
Hearts. A.A. PROCTER.
A love that took an early root,
And had an early doom.
The Devil's Progress. T.K. HERVEY.
Or as one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
All love may be expelled by other love,
As poisons are by poisons.
All for Love. J. DRYDEN.
At lovers' perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs.
Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Fool, not to know that love endures no tie,
And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury.
Palamon and Arcite, Bk. II. J. DRYDEN.
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods, they change for worse!
The Arraignment of Paris: Cupid's Curse. G. PEELE.
O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
To be once in doubt,
Is once to be resolved.
Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.