"It is everything.

Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." Burke's grand motto, which he wrote for the tablet of the Marquis of Rockingham, is worth repeating: it was, "Remember--resemble--persevere." Imitation is for the most part so unconscious that its effects are almost unheeded, but its influence is not the less permanent on that account.

It is only when an impressive nature is placed in contact with an impressionable one, that the alteration in the character becomes recognisable.

Yet even the weakest natures exercise some influence upon those about them.

The approximation of feeling, thought, and habit is constant, and the action of example unceasing.
Emerson has observed that even old couples, or persons who have been housemates for a course of years, grow gradually like each other; so that, if they were to live long enough, we should scarcely be able to know them apart.