Jonathan Swift — "It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind…"
It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts.
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More from Jonathan Swift
"'Tis an old maxim in the schools, That flattery's the food of fools; Yet now and then your men of wit. Will condescend to take a bit."
"I am not fond of giving advice, but when I do, I expect it to be taken."
"Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly."
"The difference between a madman and a sane man is that the madman is in a minority."
"The greatest ornament of an eminent character is humility."
About Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Anglo-Irish satirist and Dean of Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral whose Gulliver's Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729) are the canonical English-language satires. Closely associated with Alexander Pope (Scriblerus Club poet and collaborator) and John Gay (Beggar's Opera author and satirical contemporary). For an intellectual contrast, see Daniel Defoe, English Whig journalist and Robinson Crusoe author (1660-1731) — Defoe's Crusoe (1719) celebrates Enlightenment self-reliance and the colonial-mercantile project; Swift's Gulliver (1726) systematically dismantles every form of human pretension Defoe celebrated. The cleanest Augustan Whig-vs-Tory literary pairing — optimistic-empirical vs misanthropic-satirical.