quotations about consistency
The inconsistent man projects a plan of operations to-day ; to-morrow he makes preparations to carry it into effect ; and the next day he abandons it. He proclaims his friendship for this or that individual; eulogizes their merits, without much discrimination, on every opportunity suitable or unsuitable; but suddenly he becomes suspicious, recalls his eulogiums, and ends in hatred. He adopts the principles of some literary, political, or religious sect; defends them with great zeal for a short time; and then rejects them with contempt. And it is impossible, from any assertions he may make or any course he may pursue at the present moment, to divine what doctrines he will maintain or what course he will take hereafter.
THOMAS COGSWELL UPHAM
A Philosophical and Practical Treatise on the Will
Of course the society respects the consistent man, because the consistent man is predictable. You know what he is going to do tomorrow, you know how he is going to react. He is manageable, he can be easily manipulated. You know what buttons to push and how he will act. He is a machine; he is not truly a man. You can put him on and off and he will behave according to you; he is in your hands.
OSHO
The ABC of Enlightenment
The dense and godly wear consistency as a flower, the imaginative fling it joyfully behind them.
STELLA BENSON
I Pose
Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.
ALDOUS HUXLEY
Do What You Will
Consistency is a virtue for trains.
STEPHEN VICINCZEY
Truth and Lies in Literature
It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.
TONY ROBBINS
Awaken the Giant Within
It is the want of consistency which has caused more secret uneasiness, and more relative discord, than almost any other failing concocted with a man's character.
W. S. MARTIN
attributed, Day's Collacon
I suppose it's too bad people can't be a little more consistent. But if they were, maybe they would stop being people.
BUDD SCHULBERG
What Makes Sammy Run?
I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency. Let the words be gazetted and ridiculous henceforward.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Essays
Slow and steady wins the race.
AESOP
"The Tortoise and the Hare", Aesop's Fables
No intelligent person ever considers a change of opinion to be inconstancy.
CICERO
Epigram ad Atticum
Nothing that is not a real crime makes a man appear so contemptible and little in the eyes of the world as inconsistency, especially when it regards religion or party. In either of these cases, though a man perhaps does but his duty in changing his side, he not only makes himself hated by those he left, but is seldom heartily esteemed by those he comes over to.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Sep. 5, 1711
Consistency is a jewel, but too much jewelry is vulgar.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
And it seems to be that consistency is not what lingers ahead
But a virtue of the dead
KATATONIA
"Undo You"
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
WALT WHITMAN
"Song of Myself", Leaves of Grass
Inconsistency is the bugbear of fools! I wouldn't give a damn for a fellow who couldn't change his mind with a change of conditions.
JOHN ARBUTHNOT FISHER
attributed, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow
Success is neither magical nor mysterious. It is no more than the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.
JIM ROHN
7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness
The secret of success is consistency of purpose.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
attributed, 1001 Motivational Quotes for Success
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
"The Crack-Up", Esquire, February 1936
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
OSCAR WILDE
Aristotle at Afternoon Tea