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
Example is leadership.
—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
Others will follow your footsteps easier than they will your advice.
—Unknown
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
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
He teaches me to be good who does me good.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Nothing is more contagious than a bad example.
—French Proverb
Friendship: Never explain—your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe it anyway. A real friend never gets in your way, unless you happen to be on the way down. A friend is someone you can do nothing with and enjoy it. However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
It is a trite but true definition that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Thou canst not rebuke in children what they see practised in thee.—Till reason be ripe, examples direct more than precepts.—Such as is thy behavior before thy children’s faces, such is theirs behind thy back.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The road to learning by precept is long, but by example short and effective.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
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
An ounce of practice is worth a pound of preaching.
—Common Proverb
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
Precept guides, but example draws.
—Common Proverb
Human models are more vivid and more persuasive than explicit moral commands.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
Would you persuade, speak of Interest, not of Reason.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is infected by the licentious passions and vices of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Example is the greatest of all seducers.
—French Proverb
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
There are bad examples that are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the violation of law.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
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
Live as you wish your kids would.
—Unknown
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