From midway through the twentieth century until 1969, ownership of Friar Park resided with the Roman Catholic Church.Harrison, p. 67.Clayson, p. 301. As a result, paint masked some of Crisp's inscriptions inside the house,Greene, p. 168. but outside, signs reading "Don't keep off the grass", "Herons will be prosecuted" and "Eton boys are a Harrowing sight" remained intact.O'Dell, p. 137. Harrison also discovered inscriptions with a more profound meaning, which he described to his Hare Krishna friend Shyamasundar Das as "like songs really, about the devil, about friendship, life".Greene, p. 165. One example was "Shadows we are and shadows we depart", written on a stone sundial;Clayson, p. 302. another began: "Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass / You know his faults, now let his foibles pass ..."Greene, p. 171. This four-line verse was written above an entrance-way in a garden wall,Boyd, p. 144. and it was an aphorism that Harrison soon took to quoting in interviews.Badman, p. 6. On 28 April 1970, just over two weeks after the Beatles' break-up, he used the words during an interview for New York's WPLQ Radio,Badman, pp. 6–7. as Village Voice reporter Howard Smith repeatedly pushed for details on the animosity between Paul McCartney and the other three Beatles.Howard Smith, "Scenes", The Village Voice, 7 May 1970; Tony Ortega, "George Harrison Post-Beatles: 'It's very selfish if the Beatles don't record together'", villagevoice.com, 21 September 2010 (retrieved 6 May 2021). In October 1974 – towards the end of what Harrison termed a "bad domestic year", following his split with BoydHarrison, p. 69. – he used the same quote in an interview with BBC Radio's Alan Freeman,Badman, pp. 138–39. when again discussing the current relationship among the four ex-Beatles."That's Entertainment", Contra Band Music, 10 October 2012 (retrieved 23 December 2013)."Interview with George Harrison", Rock Around the World, program 61, 5 October 1975.
