"And what all philosophy cannot implant in the head of the 
    wisest men, does not custom by her sole ordinance teach 
    the crudest common herd?"

   "The laws of conscience, which we say are born of nature,
    are born of custom. Each man, holding in inward 
    veneration the opinions and the behavior approved and 
    accepted around him, cannot break loose from them without
    remorse, or apply himself to them without self-
    satisfaction."

   "The first and universal reasons are hard to scrutinize, 
    and our masters either skim over them lightly or, not 
    even daring to touch them at all, cast themselves 
    immediately into the protection of custom, where they 
    puff themselves up and enjoy a cheap triumph."

   "Miracles arise from our ignorance of nature, not from the
    essence of nature. Habituation puts to sleep the eye of 
    our judgment."

   "And when you resist the growth of an innovation that has
    come to introduce itself by violence, it is a dangerous 
    obligation and a handicap to keep yourself in check and 
    within the rules, in all matters and places, against 
    those who are free as air, to whom everything is 
    permissible that can advance their plan, who have neither
    law nor order except to follow their advantage."

    - Montaigne (1533-1592), Of Custom