Paul Lenda – “Like a beautiful flower full of color without fragrance, fruitless are the fair words of one who does not practice them.” This is one of the pearls of wisdom that Gautama Buddha left us in the Dhammapada. What it essentially means is that if you are just saying the “right” things that make you sound spiritual and enlightened, yet don’t reflect them in your actions, they’re not going to help you or anyone else.
If people see you are being a hypocrite due to saying one thing and doing another, your words will likely have the opposite effect. Think about how often there has been a well-known spiritual teacher or guru who has said something that sounds quite profound and insightful, yet then goes off and does something contradictory.