practise what you preach

If someone practises what they preach, they behave in the way that they encourage other people to behave.

Michael Blundell practised what he preached;

having declared himself to be a Kenyan, he was one of the first British-born residents to apply for Kenyan citizenship.

Grown-ups don't know all the answers, don't practise what they preach, and must be held re­sponsible for the poor state of society.

□People sometimes vary this expression, for example by saying that someone preaches what they practise.

   He is happy to preach what be practises.

The Bishop said the government had let the people down badly: it had preached love but practised hate.

□The verb 'practise' is spelled 'practice' in American English.