precept

• Even when they proposed them in the form of precept, they still regarded the perfectly virtuous man as the creature of their imagination rather than a model for imitation--a character whom it was a mental recreation rather than a duty to contemplate; and if an individual here or there, as Scipio or Cato, attempted to conform his life to his philosophical conceptions of virtue, he was sure to be ridiculed for singularity and affectation Even among the Athenians, by whom philosophy was, in many cases, cultivated to the exclusion of every active profession, intellectual amusement, not the discovery of Truth, was the principal object of their discussions. —  Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive Christianity
• All this I did purposely in a very affable and obliging tone and manner; for I hold that example is infinitely better than precept, and always endeavour, if possible, to overcome evil with good. —  The Gorilla Hunters
• Their great prophet taught them cruelty by example and precept, and the records of history, as well as of the African slave-trade, bear witness to the fact that their "tender mercies" are not and never have been conspicuous At first, as we have shown, indignities told pretty severely on the unfortunate Englishmen. —  Blue Lights Hot Work in the Soudan
• The Norwegian precept is a good one: "Give thyself wholly to thy fellow-men; they will give thee back soon enough." —  Pushing to the Front
• But just because it stands to reason, the precept is superfluous. —  The Swedish-Norwegian Union Crisis A History with Documents

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