It is superstitious to put one...

It is superstitious to put one's hopes in formalities, but arrogant to refuse to submit to them.

~Blaise Pascal~

Ceremony was but devised at fi...

Ceremony was but devised at first to set a gloss on faint deeds, hollow welcomes, recanting goodness, sorry ere 'Tis shown; but where there is true friendship, there needs none.

~William Shakespeare~

Ceremony is the smoke of frien...

Ceremony is the smoke of friendship.

~Chinese Proverbs~

Ceremony and ritual spring fro...

Ceremony and ritual spring from our heart of hearts: those who govern us know it well, for they would sooner deny us bread than dare alter the observance of tradition.

~F. Gonzalez-Crussi~

A funeral is not death, any mo...

A funeral is not death, any more than baptism is birth or marriage union. All three are the clumsy devices, coming now too late, now too early, by which Society would register the quick motions of man.

~Edward M. Forster~