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.