H. B. Marriott Watson

“ A PLEA FOR INCONSTANCY CONSTANCY has always received an improper meed of praise at the hands of the moralists. At the best it is a dull virtue, of no special allurements for the young and beautiful, fitter for dusty age, and no doubt a comfort in the grave. ”

“ Inconstancy, be it known now and for all time, is the one superior of death. Our deepest pains come of long fellowship and plethoric association: these will the inconstant avoid. We do not mourn the unknown nor the indifferently acquainted; so too a passing admiration will entail merely a passing regret. Some are crushed to the earth by loss as by an intolerable burden ”

“ The horizon of the constant is limited, their environment has narrow bounds; they themselves are sparingly percipient and massively lethargic. So that it would seem that those who cultivate this false virtue affect the distinctive quality of an inferior organisation. Constancy is the cheap possession of the mediocre. ”

“ We weary of a dress, we weary of a fare, of a scene, of a company; and why should it be for a reproach that we weary also of a passion? It is only an absurd tradition that discriminates between these different pleasures. ”

“ Day by day they come freshly to their pleasure, as the bee to its work, under no obligation to attend one flower rather than another, with no regret for the last if the next will serve as well, and with no silly vows of permanent devotion. Life is most insecure ”

“ Nature, a worthy exemplar and pattern, is immutably fickle, and be assured it is against her wish and precept if we alone are still and changeless. She has an elegant dislike to monotony, and expends herself in dodging it ”

“ Constancy, to speak plainly, is a most stagnant virtue, and one that should reflect little credit upon its exhibitor. It is one that is achieved with ridiculous ease, consumes little time, and occupies few faculties. It makes no call upon the intellect nor upon the soul ”

“ It needs no incentive to pursue, no more than does a wheel to run down an incline or a dog to go baying at the noises in the air. It is the inherited habit of the dull and docile to be faithful; and to break through this habit is no more possible than for a machine to have a mind of its own. ”

“ But the inconstant may endure many such trials without discomfiture; having paid their respects to the past they have still the future. They take off their hats to trouble, but are on more intimate terms with happiness. ”

“ But it is possible to excuse the inconstant on somewhat more material grounds. They live in accordance with the laws of natural change as with the regulations of their own being. It would be an affront to one's personal design to pick but one of several attractions. ”