When change itself can give no more,
’Tis easy to be true.
Reasons for Constancy.  SIR C. SEDLEY.

             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 beloved.
Twelfth Night, Act ii.  Sc. 4.  SHAKESPEARE.

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 fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
Julius Caesar, Act iii.  Sc. 1.  SHAKESPEARE.

CONTENTMENT.

  Happy the man, of mortals happiest he,
  Whose quiet mind from vain desires is free;
  Whom neither hopes deceive, nor fears torment,
  But lives at peace, within himself content;
  In thought, or act, accountable to none
  But to himself, and to the gods alone.
Epistle to Mrs. Higgons.  LORD LANSDOWNE.

  Yes! in the poor man’s garden grow,
    Far more than herbs and flowers,
  Kind thoughts, contentment, peace of mind,
    And joy for weary hours.
The Poor Man’s Garden.  M. HOWITT.

  Whate’er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf,
  Not one will change his neighbor with himself.
Essay on Man, Epistle II.  A. POPE.

  Poor and content is rich and rich enough,
  But riches, fineless, is as poor as winter
  To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
Othello, Act iii.  Sc. 3.  SHAKESPEARE.

  From labor health, from health contentment spring;
  Contentment opes the source of every joy.
The Minstrel, Bk.  I.  J. BEATTIE.

  What happiness the rural maid attends,
  In cheerful labor while each day she spends! 
  She gratefully receives what Heaven has sent,
  And, rich in poverty, enjoys content.
Rural Sports, Canto II.  J. GAY.

  My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
  Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,
  Nor to be seen:  my crown is called content;
  A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
K.  Henry VI., Pt.  III.  Act iii.  Sc. 1.  SHAKESPEARE.

   Shut up
  In measureless content.
Macbeth, Act ii.  Sc. 1.  SHAKESPEARE.

CONVERSATION.

Discourse, the sweeter banquet of the mind. The Odyssey, Bk.  XV.  HOMER. Trans. of POPE.

  With good and gentle-humored hearts
  I choose to chat where’er I come,
  Whate’er the subject be that starts. 
  But if I get among the glum
  I hold my tongue to tell the truth
  And keep my breath to cool my broth.
Careless Content.  LORD BYRON.

  But conversation, choose what theme we may,
  And chiefly when religion leads the way,
  Should flow, like waters after summer show’rs,
  Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers.
Conversation.  W. COWPER.