It is well to know something of the manners of various peoples, in order more sanely to judge our own, and that we do not think that everything against our modes is ridiculous, and against reason, as those who have seen nothing are accustomed to think. РRen̩ Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1637 (translated)

Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact. – Honore de Balzac