Men never do evil so thoroughly and cheerfully as when they do it for conscience sake. РBlaise Pascal, Pens̩es, 1670

A sign inside the front door of Holy Cross Primary School, in north Belfast, reads: If wed been born where they were born and taught what they were taught, we would believe what they believe. – Anon.

We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them. – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast Table, 1872