For those who are not, a simpler simile may be, that you cannot deliver a more powerful stream of water than the bore of the pipe through which it flows will admit of; or, to employ a legal truism, delivery on the part of the donor must be met by acceptance on the part of the donee before a deed of gift can become operative; or, in still simpler language, "you may take a horse to the water but you can't make him drink."
"The Law and the Word"
Thomas Troward
The gratitude of the donee is a rich recompense to the donor-purity of motive refines the joys of each.
"Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution"
L. Carroll Judson
For instance, at the council summoned by Jupiter, it is said that he at his first entrance seats himself upon his starry throne, but not so the inferior gods; "Nec protinus ausi Coelicolae, veniam donee pater ipse sedendi Tranquilla jubet esse manu."
"Biographical Essays"
Thomas de Quincey