Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
For what is done or learned by one class of women becomes, by virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all women.
—Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) American Physician
Example sheds a genial ray which men are apt to borrow, so first improve yourself today, and then your friends tomorrow.
—Unknown
My advice is to consult the lives of other men, as one would a looking-glass, and from thence fetch examples for imitation.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Much more gracious and profitable is doctrine by ensample, than by rule.
—Edmund Spenser (1552–99) English Poet
We are too quick to imitate depraved examples.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
People look at you and me to see what they are supposed to be. And, if we don’t disappoint them, maybe, just maybe, they won’t disappoint us.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
Noble examples stir us up to noble actions, and the very history of large and public souls inspires a man with generous thoughts.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The pulpit teaches to be honest, the marketplace trains to overreaching and fraud—Teaching has not a tithe of the efficacy of example and training.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Things to remember: 1) The worth of character; 2) The improvement of talent; 3) The influence of example; 4) The joy of origination; 5) The dignity of simplicity; 6) The success of perseverance.
—Marshall Field (1834–1906) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson, Philanthropist
Every great example takes hold of us with the authority of a miracle, and says to us, “If ye had but faith, ye, also, could do the same things.”
—Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819) German Philosopher
Human models are more vivid and more persuasive than explicit moral commands.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
Men trust rather to their eyes than to their ears.—The effect of precepts is, therefore, slow and tedious, while that of examples is summary and effectual.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
It is easier to exemplify values than teach them.
—Theodore Hesburgh (1917–2015) American Catholic Educator, Clergyman
We are all of us more or less echoes, repeating involuntarily the virtues, the defects, the movements, and the characters of those among whom we live.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.
—Brigham Young (1801–77) American Mormon Leader
For example is not proof.
—Yiddish Proverb
They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Live as you wish your kids would.
—Unknown
There is no part of history which seems capable of either more instruction or entertainment, than that which offers to us the lives of great and virtuous men who have made an eminent figure on the public stage of the world. In these we see what the annals of a whole age can afford that is worthy of notice; and in the wide field of universal history gather all its flowers, and possess ourselves of all that is good in it.
—Conyers Middleton (1683–1750) English Clergyman, Theologian
Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman
Well done is better than well said.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Would you persuade, speak of Interest, not of Reason.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead us to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus, by example, assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I am satisfied that we are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
Though “the words of the wise be as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies,” yet their examples are the hammer to drive them in to take the deeper hold. A father that whipped his son for swearing, and swore himself whilst he whipped him, did more harm by his example than good by his correction.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Example is not the main thing in influencing others—it’s the only thing.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Musician, Philosopher, Physician
We are in truth, more than half what we are by imitation. The great point is to choose good models and to study them with care.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Don’t wait to be a great man—be a great boy.
—Unknown
He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Education consists of example and love—nothing else.
—Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827) Swiss Educator
A wise and good man will turn examples of all sorts to his own advantage. The good he will make his patterns, and strive to equal or excel them. The bad he will by all means avoid.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Precept is instruction written in the sand.—The tide flows over it, and the record is gone.—Example is graven on the rock, and the lesson is not soon lost.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowing more than they do. It aggravates ’em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talking right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.
—Harper Lee (1926–2016) American Novelist
It is a trite but true definition that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Nothing is more contagious than a bad example.
—French Proverb
Illustrious examples engross, prejudice, and intimidate. They engross our attention, and so prevent a due inspection of ourselves; they prejudice our judgment in favor of their abilities, and so lessen the sense of our own; and they intimidate us with the
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Precept guides, but example draws.
—Common Proverb
Example is the best precept.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Nothing is so contagious as an example. We never do great good or evil without bringing about more of the same on the part of others.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
There is a transcendent power in example. We reform others unconsciously, when we walk uprightly.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
A good example is like a bell that calls many to church.
—Danish Proverb
It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of another; therefore let men take heed of their company.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.
—Thomas Morell
A world of mischief may be done by a single example of avarice or luxury.—One voluptuous palate makes many more.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician