Necessity of words

I forget where I stumbled onto this link of the CT article by Mark Galli on 'Speak the Gospel: Use Deeds When Necessary.' It's about the quote that is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." Apparently there are two problems with this: (1) he never said it; and (2) that wasn't how he lived his life.

I have actually used that quote, and said it was by him. But I've heard many times since then that - while it's a nice idea - it's not exactly correct. Good article.