Fidelity

Fidelity, or faithfulness, is a notion that, at its most abstract level, implies a truthful connection to a source or sources. Its original meaning dealt with loyalty and attentiveness to one's duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty. Both derive from the Latin word fidēlis, meaning "faithful or loyal".

Quotes

FIDELITY, n. A virtue peculiar to those who are about to be betrayed.
- Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Dictionary (1906); republished as The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

No man can mortgage his injustice as a pawn for his fidelity.
- Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).

This was her finest role and the hardest one to play. Choosing between heaven and a ridiculous fidelity, preferring oneself to eternity or losing oneself in God is the age-old tragedy in which each must play his part.
- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), "The Absurd Man".

When one considers Greek love, it is, in accordance with its concept, essentially faithful, just because it is psychical; and it is some accidental factor in the particular individual that he loves many, and with regard to the many he loves, it is again accidental every time he loves a new one; when he is in love with one, he does not think of the next one. Don Juan, on the contrary, is a seducer from the ground up. His love is not psychical but sensuous, and sensuous love, in accordance with its concept, is not faithful, but absolutely faithless; it loves not one but all, that is to say, it seduces all. In exists only in the moment, but the moment, in terms of its concept, is the sum of moments, and so we have the seducer.
- Soren Kierkegaard Either/Or Part I, Swenson p. 92-93 1843.

The joker in the deck of lesbian fidelity is female vanity: no woman of fifty is going to undress in front of a woman of twenty no matter how much she might lust for her.
- Florence King, The Florence King Reader (1995).

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat" (1843).

Histories are more full of Examples of the Fidelity of dogs than of Friends.
- Alexander Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell (19 October 1709).

It sweetens every bit of work to think that I am doing it in humble, far-off, yet real imitation of Jesus.
- Elizabeth Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward (New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co., 1869), pp. 115–116.

This brought back the sick, ashamed feeling I'd woken up with. I was no better than some geek with a foam-rubber woman's torso like they advertise in Hustler. What a pathetic, twisted version of womanhood: all the "inessential" parts lopped off, nothing left behind but tits and ass and holes. Lifelike washable plastic skin. Greek and French features. But yet, in a way, wasn't the sex sphere always what I'd wanted in a woman? An ugly truth there. "Shut up and spread!" How many times had I told Sybil that, if not in so many words?
- Rudy Rucker in the Sex Sphere, p. 69.

Fidelity is not the reason for blunting attention.
- Radoslav Rochallyi, "A letter for a son", published in Tribun:Brno, (2017), p. 87

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 271.

I never will desert Mr. Micawber.
- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1849-1850), Chapter XII.

Thou givest life and love for Greece and Right:
I will stand by thee lest thou shouldst be weak,
Not weak of soul.—I will but hold in sight
Thy marvelous beauty.—Here is
She you seek!
- William James Linton, Iphigenia at Aulis.

So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found,
Among the faithless faithful only he.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Book V, line 896.

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709), line 336.

Pleas'd to the last he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733-34), Epistle I, line 83.

Pretio parata vincitur pretio fides.
- Fidelity bought with money is overcome by money.
- Seneca the Younger, Agamemnon, 287.

Poscunt fidem secunda, at adversa exigunt.
- Prosperity asks for fidelity; adversity exacts it.
- Seneca the Younger, Agamemnon, 934.

O, where is loyalty?
If it be banish'd from the frosty head,
Where shall it find a harbour in the earth?
- William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II (c. 1590-91), Act V, scene 1, line 166.

You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel.
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595-96), Act II, scene 1, line 195.

To be true to each other, let 'appen what maäy
Till the end o' the daäy
An the last loäd hoäm.
- Alfred Tennyson, The Promise of May, Song, Act II.

To God, thy countrie, and thy friend be true.
- Henry Vaughan, Rules and Lessons, Stanza 8.

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

The secret of all our dryness, the root of all our weakness, our want of fruit and progress, our dearth and desolation, is, that we do not follow Christ. First, we do not believe that He has any particular care of us, or personal interest in our lives, and then, falling away at that point from His lead, we drop into ourselves, to do a few casual works of duty, in which neither we nor others are greatly blessed.
- Horace Bushnell, p. 250.

Be but faithful, that is all;
Go right on, and close behind thee
There shall follow still and find thee
Help, sure help.
- Arthur Hugh Clough, p. 247.

Never do what you cannot ask Christ to bless; and never go into any place or any pursuit in which you cannot ask Christ Jesus to go with you.
- Theodore L. Cuyler, p. 251.

If, after an absolute consecration to Him, and a conviction in conscience that He requires something of us, we hesitate, delay, lose courage, dilute what He would have us do, indulge fear for our comfort or safety, desire to shield ourselves from suffering and obloquy, or seek to find some excuse for not performing a difficult or painful duty, we are truly guilty in His sight.
- François Fénelon, p. 249.

Only be steadfast, never waver,
Nor seek earth's favor,
But rest;
Thou knowest what God wills must be
For all His creatures — so for thee —
The best.
- Paul Fleming, p. 248.

There are two paths in which the Christian follows Christ in this world, — paths which are always parallel, and which often merge into one, — the path of integrity, and the path of benevolence. In doing right and in doing good the Christian is a follower of Christ.
- Washington Gladden, p. 250.

Believing on Christ, learning of Christ, following Christ, — this is what it is to be a Christian. You must believe on Him that you may learn of Him. You must learn of Him that you may follow Him. But believing is nothing, and learning is less than nothing, if they do not result in faithful following.
- Washington Gladden, p. 250.

Get into sympathy with Jesus. Seek His presence, seek His help. And walking through the world in His company, you will be as balm in the bleakest weather, a benediction in the wildest scene.
- James Hamilton, p. 250.

If washed in Jesus' blood,
Then bear His likeness too,
And as you onward press
Ask, "What would Jesus do?"
- Frances Ridley Havergal, p. 251.

God never gave a man a thing to do concerning which it were irreverent to ponder how the Son of God would have done it.
- George MacDonald, p. 250.

Oh! it irradiates all our days with lofty beauty, and it makes them all hallowed and divine, when we feel that not the apparent greatness, not the prominence nor noise with which it is done, nor the external consequences which flow from it, but the motive from which it flowed, determines the worth of our deed in God's eyes. Faithfulness is faithfulness, on whatsoever scale it be set forth.
- Alexander Maclaren, p. 248.

The root of all steadfastness is in consecration to God.
- Alexander Maclaren, p. 248.

Let it be ours to be self-reliant amidst hosts of the vacillating — real in a generation of triflers — true amongst a multitude of shams; when tempted to swerve from principle, sturdy as an oak in its maintenance; when solicited by the enticement of sinners, firm as a rock in our denial.
- William Morley Punshon, p. 247.

Precious Saviour! glorious Forerunner! oh, give us grace to follow Thee; and whenever tempted to relax our efforts, or loiter on our journey, or complain of the way, may we remember that Thou hast traveled every step of the way before us, and art now waiting to welcome us into Thy presence and glory.
- James Smith, p. 251.

It is a good thing to follow Jesus with our eyes open. That is walking both by sight and faith. But it is better to follow Jesus blindly than not to follow at all.
- Henry Clay Trumbull, p. 251.

When the fight thickens the captain says, "Steady, boys;" and it is their steadiness which pulls the soldiers through. Fitful soldiers are rarely useful ones. That is our great need to-day, steady Christians — men and women you can count on. Many Christians are like intermittent springs. They flow to-day — to-morrow you cannot get a thimbleful of religious activity out of the dried channel of their lives.
- Francis Wayland, p. 248.