A man’s real faith is never contained in his creed, nor is his creed an article of his faith.
 Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849). copy citation

Context

“He should know better than expose himself, and keep his foul sores covered till they are quite healed. There is more religion in men’s science than there is science in their religion. Let us make haste to the report of the committee on swine. A man’s real faith is never contained in his creed, nor is his creed an article of his faith. The last is never adopted. This it is that permits him to smile ever, and to live even as bravely as he does. And yet he clings anxiously to his creed, as to a straw, thinking that that does him good service because his sheet anchor does not drag.” source