On a very rough-and-ready basis we might define an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, insists on laying it down to others. An eccentric puts ice cream on steak simply because he likes it; should a crank do so, he would endow the act with moral grandeur and straightaway denounce as sinners (or reactionaries) all who failed to follow suit. Cranks, at their most familiar, are a sort of peevish prophets, and it's not enough that they should be in the right; others must also be in the wrong.
Louis KronenbergerThe life of sense begins by assuming that we can only fitfully live the life of reason.
Louis KronenbergerThe closer and more confidential our relationship with someone, the less we are entitled to ask about what we are not voluntarily told.
Louis KronenbergerWe might define an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, insists on laying it down to others.
Louis Kronenberger