Inconstancy

lack of constancy

Inconstancy is the lack of constancy, a lack of consistency in thought, emotion or action.

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  • O Fortuna,
    velut luna
    statu variabilis.
  • I hate inconstancy—I loathe, detest,
    Abhor, condemn, abjure the mortal made
    Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast
    No permanent foundation can be laid.
  • All things are inconstant except the faith in the soul, which changes all things and fills their inconstancy with light, but though I seem to be driven out of my country as a misbeliever I have found no man yet with a faith like mine.
  • O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
    That monthly changes in her circled orb,
    Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
  • Love is not love
    Which alters when it alteration finds,
    Or bends with the remover to remove;
    O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark
    That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
    It is the star to every wandering bark,
    Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
  • I loved a lass, a fair one,
    As fair as e'er was seen;
    She was indeed a rare one,
    Another Sheba queen:
    But, fool as then I was,
    I thought she loved me too:
    But now, alas! she's left me,
    Falero, lero, loo!
    • George Wither, I Loved a Lass; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 390.
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