“Fightin’ is no way to make converts; the true way is to win them. You may stop a man’s mouth Sam,” says he, “by a crammin’ a book down his throat, but you won’t convince him.  It’s a fine thing to write a book all covered over with Latin, and Greek, and Hebrew, like a bridle that’s real jam, all spangled with brass nails, but who knows whether it’s right or wrong?  Why, not one in ten thousand.  If I had my religion to choose, and warn’t able to judge for myself, I’ll tell you what I’d do: I’d just ask myself, Who leads the best lives?“

-Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker, published 1836.

(Mr. Haliburton was a Nova Scotia judge and the author of humorous books  featuring Sam Slick, a fictional Yankee peddler, and his observations on life in Nova Scotia.)