Top 100 Precept Quotes
#2. I freely admit that I have many times adopted Jim Oakley's precept of a "bloody good gallop," often with spectacular results. To this day I frequently learn things from farmers, but that was one time when I learned from a postman.
James Herriot
#3. Where one person shapes their life by precept and example, there are a thousand who have shaped it by impulse and circumstances.
James Russell Lowell
#4. Learning to fully understand the doctrines of the gospel is a process of a lifetime and comes 'line upon line, precept upon precept.
Cheryl A. Esplin
#5. This precept descended from Heaven: know thyself.
Juvenal
#6. If religion and science could be united on the common ground of biological conservation, the problem would be soon solved. If there is any moral precept shared by people of all beliefs, it is that we owe ourselves and future generations a beautiful, rich, and healthful environment.
E. O. Wilson
#7. Everyone Can Play is now the precept I live by. We may not agree with one another. We may argue. We may compete. But everybody gets to play, no matter what. We all deserve a shot at life.
Sharon Salzberg
#8. Examples draw where precept fails, and sermons are less read than tales.
Matt Prior
#9. Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life ... My precept is, do something, my sister, do good if you can; but at any rate, do something.
Elizabeth Gaskell
#10. JULIAN ALBANS'S PRECEPT Sometimes it's good to start over. - Julian Albans
R.J. Palacio
#11. Altogether, the Old Bailey, at that date, was a choice illustration of the precept, that "Whatever is right;" an aphorism that would be as final as it is lazy, did it not include the troublesome consequence, that nothing that ever was, was wrong.
Charles Dickens
#12. An excellent precept for writers: Have a clear idea of all the phrases and expressions you need, and you will find them.
Ximenes Doudan
#13. Let him who gropes painfully in darkness or uncertain light, and prays vehemently that the dawn may ripen into day, lay this precept well to heart: "Do the duty which lies nearest to thee," which thou know to be a duty! Thy second duty will already have become clearer.
Thomas Carlyle
#14. Therefore, we are today far from wrong in applying this prophecy to the papists, who urge celibacy and abstinence from foods more forcefully than any precept of God. They
John Calvin
#15. Measures of self-precept must be tailored to the domain of psychological functioning being explored.
Albert Bandura
#16. It is, I fear, but a vain show of fulfilling the heathen precept, 'Know thyself,' and too often leads to a self- estimate which will subsist in the absence of that fruit by which alone the quality of the tree is made evident.
George Eliot
#17. All attempts at gaining literary polish must begin with judicious reading, and the learner must never cease to hold this phase uppermost. In many cases, the usage of good authors will be found a more effective guide than any amount of precept.
H.P. Lovecraft
#18. The road to learning by precept is long, but by example short and effective.
Seneca The Elder
#19. The simplest and shortest ethical precept is to be served as little as possible ... and to serve others as much as possible.
Leo Tolstoy
#20. This, then, is true liberty: the joy that comes in doing what is right. At the same time, it is also devoted service in obedience to righteous precept.
Augustine Of Hippo
#21. The precept that location is key to the success of a business applies to art, and even to life itself: we thrive or wither depending on how nourishing our environment is.
Yann Martel
#22. Don't do what should not be done, and don't desire what should not be desired. Abide by this one precept, and everything else will follow.
Mencius
#23. The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth. - Bene Gesserit Precept I
Brian Herbert
#24. It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.
Samuel Smiles
#25. So many individuals, children, couples, and families have been destroyed by sexual misconduct. To practice the Third Precept is to heal ourselves and heal our society. This is mindful living.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#26. Some die too young, some die too old; the precept sounds strange, but die at the right age.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#27. For the company of the great is good company as Shakespeare understood it, as Plutarch understood it. The past remains the source from which example and precept can still be drawn.
C.V. Wedgwood
#29. I forget who it was that recommended men for their soul's good to do each day two things they disliked: it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously; for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed.
W. Somerset Maugham
#30. I cannot remember a time when the Golden Rule was not my motto and precept, the torch that guided my footsteps.
James Cash Penney
#31. O, man! learn from the precept what you ought to do; learn from correction, that it is your own fault you have not the power; and learn in prayer, whence it is that you may receive the power.
John Calvin
#32. A bargain,' said the son. 'Here's the rule for bargains -"Do other men, for they would do you." That's the true business precept. All others are counterfeits.
Charles Dickens
#33. Example teaches better than precept. It is the best modeler of the character of men and women. To set a lofty example is the richest bequest a man can leave behind him.
Samuel Smiles
#35. Example is the best precept.
Aesop
#36. It was a precept of Pythagoras, that when we enter into the temple to worship God , we must not so much as speak or think of any worldly business, lest we make God's service an idle ,perfunctory, and lazy recreation. The same I may say of closet prayer.
Thomas Brooks
#37. As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it on no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no precept of courtesy or humanity, have been infringed.
James Madison
#38. The point is that, whenever we propose a solution to a problem, we ought to try as hard as we can to overthrow our solution, rather than defend it. Few of us, unfortunately, practice this precept; but other people, fortunately, will supply the criticism for us if we fail to supply it ourselves.
Karl Popper
#39. Men trust their eyes rather than their ears; the road by precept is long and tedious, by example short and effectual.
Seneca The Younger
#40. How elating it must be, to be able to take a precept and with wisdom throw it in the observer's face, disillusioned,
Dew Platt
#41. The precept to worship God 'in spirit and in truth' recommand to worship him as an inward and moral force, without physical attributes and with no relation to fears and egoist wishes.
African Spir
#42. I have only one moral precept; never smoke more than five cigars at a time.
Mark Twain
#43. It is by imitation, far more than by precept, that we learn everything; and what we learn thus, we acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly.
Edmund Burke
#44. To receive all of the promised blessings, we must accept the gospel in faith and in full. However, this certain faith does not usually come all at once. We learn spiritually line upon line and precept upon precept.
James E. Faust
#45. "Softly, softly, catchee monkey," is the West African rendering of a very valuable precept. An awful lot of men fail through lack of patient persistence.
Robert Baden-Powell
#46. What could ever be a sufficient reason for excusing in any way the direct murder of the innocent? This is precisely what we are dealing with here. Whether inflicted upon the mother or upon the child, it is against the precept of God and the law of nature: 'Thou shalt not kill.'
Pope Pius XI
#47. Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we have taken the wrong position.
C.S. Lewis
#48. The precept, "Know yourself," was not solely intended to obviate the pride of mankind; but likewise that we might understand our own worth.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
#49. RITE, n. A religious or semi-religious ceremony fixed by law, precept or custom, with the essential oil of sincerity carefully squeezed out of it.
Ambrose Bierce
#50. Mr. Browne's precept for October was: YOUR DEEDS ARE YOUR MONUMENTS.
R.J. Palacio
#51. By the way, I love your precept. I agree, sometimes it's good to start over. A fresh start gives us the chance to reflect on the past, weigh the things we've done, and apply what we've learned from those things to the future. If we don't examine the past, we don't learn from it.
R.J. Palacio
#52. A wasteland of embarrassment and social upheaval can be neatly avoidedby following a single precept in life:
Do not lie
Sam Harris
#53. Examples is more forcible than precept. People look at my six days in the week to see what I mean on the seventh.
Robert Cecil
#54. It was perhaps, the devil's oldest precept, that sin could always be trusted to reveal what was most human in a person as often for good as for ill.
Joe Hill
#55. AUGUST PULLMAN'S PRECEPT
Everyone deserves a standing ovation because we all overcometh the world.
Auggie
R.J. Palacio
#57. My precept to all who build, is, that the owner should be an ornament to the house, and not the house to the owner.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
#58. Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
#59. He [Muhammad] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind ... The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God.
John Quincy Adams
#61. In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
Quintilian
#62. The first principle from which stems the moral of about all people at all time; it is summarized in this precept: Love thy neighbour as thyself, and: do as you would be done by.
African Spir
#63. Leaders who fail to appreciate this fundamental precept of accountability must also fail to muster the profound commitment true leadership demands.
Peter Cosgrove
#65. Know your numbers' is a fundamental precept of business.
Bill Gates
#66. HENRY JOPLIN'S PRECEPT
Don't be friends with jerks.
R.J. Palacio
#67. Teaching by precept, without example, is mighty poor teaching.
Heber J. Grant
#68. Keep in mind God's precept that states, 'Judge not, and you will not be judged' (Lk. 6:37), and in no way meddle in the lives of others.
Symeon The New Theologian
#69. You must, when called upon, be prepared to defend resolutely and to protect, when possible, the helpless and hidden life of the child, following the divine precept 'Non occides': You shall not kill (Exodus 20:13). Such
Pope Pius XII
#70. Not to admire, is all the art I know To make men happy, or to keep them so. Thus Horace wrote we all know long ago; And thus Pope quotes the precept to re-teach From his translation; but had none admired, Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired?
Lord Byron
#71. A Law of Nature, (Lex Naturalis) is a Precept, or general Rule, found out by Reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved.
Thomas Hobbes
#72. The most famous Obama precept is, 'No drama.'
Dan Pfeiffer
#73. The first precept in Buddhism is "Do not kill." This precept is not merely a legalistic prohibition, but a realization of our affinity with all who share the gift of life. A compassionate heart provides a firm ground for this precept.
Dhammananda Bhikkhuni
#74. The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt.
Rene Descartes
#75. Refined indifference is a sports psychology precept: train like there's no tomorrow and then accept whatever happens. Once you step on the field realize that whatever is meant to be is meant to be.
Scott Hamilton
#76. Be what you wish your children to be. Parents have perpetuated by precept and example their own stamp of character to their posterity.
Ellen G. White
#77. Our works are the mirror wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments. Hence, too, the folly of that impossible precept, Know theyself; till it be translated into this partially possible one, know what thou canst work at.
Thomas Carlyle
#78. The more profoundly we study this wonderful book [the Bible], and the more closely we observe its divine precept, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation.
William McKinley
#80. MR. BROWNE'S SEPTEMBER PRECEPT:
WHEN GIVEN THE CHOICE BETWEEN BEING
RIGHT OR BEING KIND, CHOOSE KIND.
R.J. Palacio
#81. It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained.
Pliny The Elder
#82. The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.
Richard Furman
#83. As for what concerns our relations with our fellow men, the anguish in our neighbor's soul must break all precept. All that we do is a means to an end, but love is an end in itself, because God is love.
Edith Stein
#84. I, for my part, acknowledge another precept which says that man must deal the final blow to those whose downfall is destined by God.
Adolf Hitler
#85. Of all the arts poetry (which owes its origin almost entirely to genius and will least be guided by precept or example) maintains the first rank.
Immanuel Kant
#86. The central activity of leadership is teaching - first by example, second by precept.
M. Russell Ballard
#87. It was said of Euripides, that every verse was a precept; and it may be said of Shakespeare, that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence.
Samuel Johnson
#88. The assumption that humans exist within an essentially impermanent universe, taken as an operational precept, demands that the intellect become a totally aware balancing instrument.
Frank Herbert
#89. AMOS CONTI'S PRECEPT
Don't try too hard to be cool. It always shows, and that's uncool.
R.J. Palacio
#90. In every country in the world, killing human beings is condemned. The Buddhist precept of non-killing extends even further, to include all living beings.
Nhat Hanh
#91. Example is more powerful than precept.
Aesop
#92. This laudable quality is commonly known by the name of Manners and Good-breeding, and consists in a Fashionable Habit, acquir'd by Precept and Example, of flattering the Pride and Selfishness of others, and concealing our own with Judgment and Dexterity.
Bernard De Mandeville
#93. The most basic precept of all is to be aware of what we do, what we are, each minute . Every other precept will follow from that.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#94. Where is there virtue in this world that is of any practical good whose vital force is not to be found in example rather than in precept?
Edward Hooker Dewey
#96. For remember, ever, that Mind in its entirety is ever the Builder. For it is step by step, line by line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, that the attaining is accomplished in the mental, the spiritual, the material applications of an entity in this material world.
Edgar Cayce
#97. Resolved, That all laws which prevent women from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature, and therefore of no force or authority.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
#98. We must look deeply. When we buy something or consume something, we may be participating in an act of killing. This precept [non-killing] reflects our determination not to kill, either directly or indirectly, and also to prevent others from killing.
Nhat Hanh
#99. Every religion lies. Every moral precept is a delusion. Even the stars are a mirage. The truth is darkness, and the only thing that matters is making a statement before one enters it. Cutting the skin of the world and leaving a scar. That's all history is, after all: scar tissue.
Stephen King
#100. The business of the believer with his Bible open is to pray, 'Lord, give me the meaning and spirit of your word, while it lies open before me; apply your word with power to my soul, threatening or promise, doctrine or precept, whatever it may be; lead me into the soul and marrow of your word.'
Charles Spurgeon
