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Contemplation: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

I could be well moved if I were as you; If I could pray to move, prayers would move me; But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. Julius Cæsar. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 58. If ever thou shalt love, In the sweet pangs of it remember me; For such as I am all true lovers are, Unstaid and skittish in all motions else, Save in the constant image of the creature That is belov'd.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 15.

I would have men of such constancy put to sea, that their business might be everything and their intent everywhere; for that's it that always makes a good voyage of nothing.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 77.

Now from head to foot I am marble-constant: now the fleeting moon No planet is of mine.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 238.

O constancy, be strong upon my side, Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue! I have a man's mind, but a woman's might. Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 7. O heaven! were man But constant, he were perfect. That one error Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins: Inconstancy falls off ere it begins. S.— Shakespeare — Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act V. Sc. 4. L. 109.

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom.— Shakespeare — Sonnet CXVI.

Out upon it! I have lov'd Three whole days together; And am like to love three more, If it prove fair weather.— SIR JOHN SUCKLING — Constancy.

The act of contemplation then creates the thing contemplated.— ISAAC DISRAELI — Literary Character. Ch. XII.

But first and chiefest, with thee bring Him that yon soars on golden wing, Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, The Cherub Contemplation.— MILTON — Il Penseroso. L. 51.

In discourse more sweet, (For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the sense,) Others apart sat on a hill retir'd, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will and Fate, Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute; And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 555.

Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him: how he jets under his advanced plumes.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 5. L. 35.

When holy and devout religious men Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence; So sweet is zealous contemplation.— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act III. Sc. 7. L. 92.