quotations about example
The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.
CHARLES MORELL
The Tales of the Genii
We ought to give good examples to our children, because if they see no uncomeliness, they shall be forced to follow goodness and virtue.
XENOPHON
attributed, Day's Collacon
The best teachers of humanity are the lives of great men.
CHARLES HENRY FOWLER
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
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
Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Lord Stirling, Mar. 5, 1780
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
A good example is the best sermon.
ENGLISH PROVERB
Happy thou that learnest from another's griefs, not to subject thyself to the same.
TIBULLUS
Carmina
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
Example is one of the most potent instructors, though it teaches without a tongue; it is the practical school of mankind, working by action, which is always more forcible than words. Precept may point us the way, but it is silent, continuous example, conveyed to us by habits, and living with us in fact, that carries us along.
SMILES
attributed, Day's Collacon
People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
The Deserted Village
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
Precepts guide, but examples drag along.
ROMAN PROVERB
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
No man is so insignificant as to be sure his example can do no hurt.
LORD CLARENDON
attributed, Day's Collacon
People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves.
TRYON EDWARDS
attributed, Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom
You cannot expect your team to rise above your example.
ORRIN WOODWARD
L.I.F.E: Living Intentionally For Excellence
We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
MOHANDAS GANDHI
attributed, Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom