In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby
No one wants advice, only corroboration.
—John Steinbeck in The Winter of Our Discontent
Never fight an inanimate object.
—P.J. O'Rourke
Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it.
—Agatha Christie
When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
—Saul Bellow
Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld
I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
—Harry S. Truman
Free advice is worth the price.
—Robert Half
There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.
—Joseph Addison
Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it.
—Gordon R. Dickson
I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
—Gloria Steinem
Just remember who you are. The world will try to change you into someone else. Don't let them. That's the best advice anyone can give you.
—Cinda Williams Chima in The Warrior Heir
The most solid advice… for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.
—William Saroyan
A poor man was so distressed at how small and crowded his house was that he went to see his rabbi for advice. The rabbi told him to go home and move his goat into the house, then to come visit the rabbi again in a week. The man did as he was told and returned to the rabbi a week later.
"How is it now?" asked the rabbi.
"Impossible," said the man.
The rabbi instructed the man to go home and move all his chickens into the house, then to return again in a week. A week later the man was banging on the rabbi's door.
"How is it now?" asked the rabbi.
"Impossible," the man replied. "I cannot go on like this."
The rabbi told the man to go home, take the chickens and the goat out of the house, and return again in a week. Once more the man did as instructed. The next week the man stood at the rabbi's door with a broad grin and a well-rested manner.
"So," the rabbi said, "now how is it?"
"A blessing on you, Rabbi," the man said. "My life is so much better. I don't know how to thank you.
—Hasidic folktale
Don't take my advice. Or anyone's advice. Trust yourself. For good or for bad, happy or unhappy, it's your life, and what you do with it has always been entirely up to you.
—Nicholas Sparks in The Best of Me