Orts #692

Mankind are very odd creatures: one half censure what they practise, the other half practise what they censure; the rest always say and do as they ought.

     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1752

Ceremony forbids our expressing in words things that are permissible and natural, and we obey it; reason forbids our doing things that are illicit and wicked, and no one obeys it.

     -- Montaigne, in an essay, Of presumption

Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service, and therefore more generally chosen.

     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1753