Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

The line asserts that moral influence is transmitted less through instruction or persuasion than through lived conduct. By calling example “the only thing,” the saying uses deliberate exaggeration to stress that people are most powerfully shaped by what they see embodied—habits, choices, and sacrifices—rather than by abstract ideals. In Schweitzer’s ethical universe (often summarized by his principle of “reverence for life”), credibility depends on congruence between belief and action: compassion, service, and responsibility must be enacted to be convincing. The quote is frequently invoked in leadership and education to argue that character and behavior set the real standard others follow, whether consciously or not.