Richard Lingard was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and academic in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the seventeenth century. Lingard was educated at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He was Dean of Lismore from 1662 to 1670 and Regius Professor of Divinity at TCD from 1670 to 1678. In his 1696 pamphlet titled "A Letter of Advice to a Young Gentleman Leaving the University Concerning His Behaviour and Conversation in the World," Lingard wrote, "If you would read a mans icDisposition, see him Game, you will then learn more of him in one hour, than in seven Years Conversation." This appears to be the source of the similar statement "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation", which has been mis-attributed to

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

since at least as early as the 1950s.FACT CHECK: Did Plato Say, ‘You Can Discover More About A Person In An Hour Of Play Than In A Year Of Conversation’?
Sylvester, Brad 2019-11-06, accessed 2021-10-28

References

Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 17th-century Irish Anglican priests Deans of Lismore Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Dublin) Archdeacons of Clonmacnoise {{Ireland-Anglican-clergy-stub