quotations about example
The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.
CHARLES MORELL
The Tales of the Genii
To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while.
JOSH BILLINGS
Josh Billings' Farmers Allminax for the Year 1871
Rules and discourses are dead pictures, but a good example is virtue itself, alive and in motion : we may say a good example is virtue personified.
MOX
The Railway Conductor, vol. 27
Sheep follow sheep.
TALMUD
Ketuboth 62
Happy thou that learnest from another's griefs, not to subject thyself to the same.
TIBULLUS
Carmina
If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
letter to Harrison Blake, Mar. 27, 1848
Be a pattern to others, and all will go well: for as a whole city is affected by the promiscuous passions of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.
CICERO
attributed, Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom
For example is a language far more eloquent than words: it is instruction in action.
SAMUEL SMILES
Thrift
A good example is the best sermon.
ENGLISH PROVERB
I may do some good before I am dead--be a sort of success as a frightful example of what not to do; and so illustrate a moral story.
THOMAS HARDY
Jude the Obscure
The crime of a bad example is the same whether men follow it or not, because he that gives bad example to others, does what in him lies to draw them into sin; and if they do not follow it, that is no mitigation of his fault.
JOHN TILLOTSON
The Works of the Most Reverend John Tillotson
Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Lord Stirling, Mar. 5, 1780
Precepts guide, but examples drag along.
ROMAN PROVERB
No man is so insignificant as to be sure his example can do no hurt.
LORD CLARENDON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Those who know what is right, should set the example of practicing it; and those who persist in doing wrong must be made an example, to deter others from doing the same.
GEORGE CRABB
English Synonyms Explained
From the loving example of one family a whole State may become loving, and from its courtesies, courteous; while from the ambition and perverseness of the one man the whole State may be thrown into rebellious disorder. Such is the nature of influence.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves.
TRYON EDWARDS
attributed, Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom
People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
The Deserted Village
You cannot expect your team to rise above your example.
ORRIN WOODWARD
L.I.F.E: Living Intentionally For Excellence
An ounce of example is better than a ton of precept.
ENGLISH PROVERB