=Impossibility.=

And what’s impossible can’t be,
And never, never comes to pass.
971
COLMAN, JR.:  Maid of the Moor.

=Impudence.=

For he that has but impudence,
To all things has a fair pretence;
And, put among his wants but shame,
To all the world may lay his claim.
972
BUTLER:  Misc.  Thoughts, Line 17.

=Inconstancy.=

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one on shore;
To one thing constant never.
973
SHAKS.:  Much Ado, Act ii., Sc. 3, Song.

There are three things a wise man will not trust—­
The wind, the sunshine of an April day,
And woman’s plighted faith.
974
SOUTHEY:  Madoc, Pt. ii., Caradoc and Senena, Line 51.

=Independence.=

Thy spirit, Independence, let me share;
Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye,
Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
975
SMOLLETT:  Ode to Independence.

Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies!
976
JOSEPH HOPKINSON:  Hail, Columbia!

=Indifference.=

What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba. 977 SHAKS.:  Hamlet, Act ii., Sc. 2.

Let ev’ry man enjoy his whim;
What’s he to me, or I to him?
978
CHURCHILL:  Ghost, Bk. iv., Line 215.

=Infancy.=

Ere sin could blight, or sorrow fade,
Death came with friendly care;
The opening bud to heav’n convey’d,
And bade it blossom there.
979
COLERIDGE:  Epitaph on an Infant.

=Infidelity.=

If man loses all, when life is lost,
He lives a coward, or a fool expires. 
A daring infidel (and such there are,
From pride, example, lucre, rage, revenge,
Or pure heroical defect of thought,)
Of all earth’s madmen, most deserves a chain.
980
YOUNG:  Night Thoughts, Night vii., Line 199.

=Influence.=

No life
Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,
And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.
981
OWEN MEREDITH:  Lucile, Pt. ii., Canto vi., St. 40.

Ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize.
982
MILTON:  L’Allegro, Line 121.

=Ingratitude.=

I hate ingratitude more in a man
Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.
983
SHAKS.:  Tw.  Night, Act iii., Sc. 4.

Ingratitude! thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous, when thou show’st thee in a child,
Than the sea-monster!
984
SHAKS.:  King Lear, Act i., Sc. 4.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.
985
SHAKS.:  King Lear, Act i., Sc. 4.