Literary notes about precept (AI summary)
The term precept is employed in literature to denote a guiding principle or rule that governs both moral behavior and legal structure. In some works, it is presented as a binding commandment that directs conduct, as seen when it is linked to absolute subjection or divine ordinance (e.g., [1], [2]). It also serves as a personal maxim, a rule for living by which characters or authors strive to model their behavior, much like the wise counsel passed on through generations (e.g., [3], [4]). Additionally, precept often appears in philosophical and religious contexts, where it provides the groundwork for ethical discourse and civic duty—whether as a divine command that shapes society or as an instructive principle underscoring natural law and the pursuit of happiness (e.g., [5], [6], [7]). This dual quality allows precept to straddle the realms of both formal legislation and everyday personal conduct, offering a concise expression of repute in literature that encapsulates moral ideals and practical advice.
- but that it is not the Imperative manner of speaking, but an absolute Subjection to a Person, that maketh his Precept Laws.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - And arise, O Lord, my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded: 7:8.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - It has also always been my precept and practice, as it was my dear husband's precept and practice before me (see Sermon XXIX.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - In this way he would inculcate in me the wise precept of reserve and discretion.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - And laid down that Precept which a late excellent Author has delivered as his own, '
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Whereas , The great precept of nature is conceded to be, that "man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness."
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - All this, however, they could not have done if they had conceived this law in all its purity and strictness, as the precept of the Gospel does.
— from The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant
