If your nurse has told you that Ceres presides over corn, or that Vishnu
or Sakyamuni became men several times, or that Odin awaits you in his
hall towards Jutland, or that Mohammed or some other travelled to
Heaven; if, moreover, your preceptor deepens in your brain what the
nurse, has engraved, you will hold it all your life. Should your
judgment rise against these prejudices, your neighbors, above all your
female neighbors, will cry out at the impiety and frighten you. Your
dervish, fearing the diminution of his revenue, may accuse you before
the Cadi, and this Cadi impale you if he can, since he desires to rule
over fools, believing fools obey better than others; and this will
endure till your neighbors, and the dervish, and the Cadi begin to
understand that folly is good for nothing and that persecution is
abominable.--_Dictionnaire Philosophique_.