Love Quote by George Farquhar

Affection, Farquhar suggests, is the real pedagogy: we don’t cling to principles because they’re airtight, but because they arrive wearing a human face we’re willing to trust. “Precepts” sounds austere, almost legalistic, yet the line quietly demotes the rule and elevates the rule-giver. It’s a social truth disguised as moral advice: doctrine sticks when charisma, care, or authority makes it stick.

That’s a particularly Restoration-era insight. Farquhar writes in a culture newly addicted to manners, reputation, and performance, where virtue is often less a private conviction than a public style. In that world, the “teacher” isn’t just an instructor; he’s a figure of status, seduction, or patronage. The precepts become accessories to a relationship. You don’t adopt the code because it’s right; you adopt it because aligning with this person flatters you, protects you, or lets you belong.

The subtext has a bite to it. Farquhar isn’t simply praising mentorship; he’s exposing how easily ethics get outsourced to personality. The line can read as tender (we learn best from those we love), but it also reads as warning: when the teacher is adored, the precepts become immune to scrutiny. Swap “teacher” for influencer, politician, founder, or therapist and the mechanism holds. It’s not ideas that go viral; it’s people. And once we’re attached, we start mistaking loyalty for belief.