“What custom wills, in all things should we do’t,
The dust on antique time would lie unswept,
And mountainous error be too highly heapt
For truth to o’er-peer.” (Coriolanus act 2 sc. 3)
Tips for Use. When you are proposing a new, brilliant project or idea and meet with the usual resistance by the entrenched, suspicious, conservative and timorous management. Retort when someone says ‘…but we have always done it this way.’ The “dust of antique time” elegantly conveys the idea.
In the play. Coriolanus, forced by custom to stand in front of the people to garner their affection and gain popularity, decries the obligations of custom and (by inference) the continuation of error.