The honour that is paid to the gods lies, not in the victims for sacrifice, though they be fat and glitter with gold, but in the upright and holy desire of the worshippers. Those who strive to do good, therefore, are pleasing to the gods with an offering of meal and gruel; the bad, on the other hand, do not escape impiety although they dye the altars with streams of blood.

Seneca the Younger, De Beneficiis 1.6.3, circa 56-62 CE. (via honorthegods)