What is variable?

Famous quotes containing the word variable:

    “Walked forth to ease my pain
    Along the shore of silver streaming Thames,
    Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
    Was painted all with variable flowers,”
    —Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)

    “There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.”
    —Joseph Addison (1672–1719)