See Also: FIRMNESS, STEADINESS

1. (I found the almond trees as) dependable as the swallows of Capistrano, announcing another spring —Wallace Stegner
2. As reliable as the day following the night —Dorothea Straus
3. [A collection of art works] as spotty as a Dalmation and not half as beautiful —Manuela Hoelterhoff, on the new Wallace wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wall Street Journal, March 17, 1987
4. Consistent and productive as machines —Gay Gaer Luce
5. Dealing with Owen Roe was like walking across a bog. You never knew when the ground might give way under your feet —Julia O’Faolain
6. Dependable as a floating crap game —Harry Prince
7. Dependable as clockwork … —Anon
8. Dependable as daylight —Beryl Markham
9. A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last —Joseph Fort
10. Duty without responsibility is like pomp without power —Edward, Duke of Windsor
11. Fickle as a changeful dream —Sir Walter Scott
12. It [buying a house] was like joining a church because it committed me to spending every weekend I could get … to working on the place —George V. Higgins
13. (You’ve got) no more responsibility than a one-eyed jack rabbit —Elmer Kelton
14. Reliability’s like a string we can only see the middle of —William McFee
15. (About as) reliable as a Pravda editorial —Joseph Wambaugh
16. Reliable as a salary —Frank R. Stockton
17. Reliable as crystal balls, goat innards, and prayer —Harold Adams
18. Reliable as he was eccentric —Mark Twain
19. Reliable as reading tea leaves or the bumps on one’s head —Peter J. Bonacich, letter to editor of Discover, April, 1986
20. Responsibility rested upon him as lightly as the freckles on his nose —Alice Caldwell Hegan
21. Solid as tombstones —Helen Hudson
22. Wore, like a garment, an air of wholesome reliability —Mazo De La Roche
23. Would always be there … like some familiar landmark —Barbara Pym, The Sweet Dove Died