Some Of The Best Advice
Good advice is hard to come by.
And what may have seemed 'good' at the time, doesn't hold-up down the track.
Take, for example, those words of wisdom freely offered by parents.
Despite their best intentions, a great deal of parental advice doesn't stand the test of time.
I can remember my parents advising me to, 'Act your age'.
These words of wisdom have been shown to be a definite 'no-no' in the pursuit of anti-ageing.
But most parents have credibility on their side.
In the eyes of the advice-seeker, parents have been there, done that, and have the T-shirt to prove it.
So some parental advice is worth heeding.
Responding to a request from her son for advice about how to break into the music industry, stand-up comic Denise Scott, told her son that, even though she had no idea about the requirements for the job he was seeking, her advice to her son was to get-up off the lounge and walk out the front door.
The general consensus is that the best advice we could take is our own.
George Burns reckoned that this was the best bit of advice he could offer.
George probably 'borrowed' his advice from the Roman statesman Cicero, who said, 'No one can give you better advice than yourself'.
And Oscar Wilde said, 'I always pass on good advice.
It's the only thing to do with it.
It is never any use to oneself'.
And then, of course, despite their best intentions, people often don't follow the advice offered.
Jack Nicholson was clearly aware of this when he said, 'Don't give anybody your best advice, because they're not going to follow it'.
He also stated, 'I hate giving advice, because people won't take it'.
And Lewis Carroll noted (not about Alice, I hope), 'She generally gave herself very good advice, though she seldom followed it'.
Offering and following advice, therefore, doesn't have a very good track record for success.
Perhaps people reason that paying for it will ensure their commitment? As Warren Buffet noted, 'Wall Street is the only place that people ride in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway'.
Bottom line is, as Sophocles noted way-back, 'There is nothing more hateful than bad advice'.
For the last words on advice, keep in mind what (the lyric poet) Horace had to say in 40 BCE: 'Whatever advice you give, be short'.
And what may have seemed 'good' at the time, doesn't hold-up down the track.
Take, for example, those words of wisdom freely offered by parents.
Despite their best intentions, a great deal of parental advice doesn't stand the test of time.
I can remember my parents advising me to, 'Act your age'.
These words of wisdom have been shown to be a definite 'no-no' in the pursuit of anti-ageing.
But most parents have credibility on their side.
In the eyes of the advice-seeker, parents have been there, done that, and have the T-shirt to prove it.
So some parental advice is worth heeding.
Responding to a request from her son for advice about how to break into the music industry, stand-up comic Denise Scott, told her son that, even though she had no idea about the requirements for the job he was seeking, her advice to her son was to get-up off the lounge and walk out the front door.
The general consensus is that the best advice we could take is our own.
George Burns reckoned that this was the best bit of advice he could offer.
George probably 'borrowed' his advice from the Roman statesman Cicero, who said, 'No one can give you better advice than yourself'.
And Oscar Wilde said, 'I always pass on good advice.
It's the only thing to do with it.
It is never any use to oneself'.
And then, of course, despite their best intentions, people often don't follow the advice offered.
Jack Nicholson was clearly aware of this when he said, 'Don't give anybody your best advice, because they're not going to follow it'.
He also stated, 'I hate giving advice, because people won't take it'.
And Lewis Carroll noted (not about Alice, I hope), 'She generally gave herself very good advice, though she seldom followed it'.
Offering and following advice, therefore, doesn't have a very good track record for success.
Perhaps people reason that paying for it will ensure their commitment? As Warren Buffet noted, 'Wall Street is the only place that people ride in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway'.
Bottom line is, as Sophocles noted way-back, 'There is nothing more hateful than bad advice'.
For the last words on advice, keep in mind what (the lyric poet) Horace had to say in 40 BCE: 'Whatever advice you give, be short'.
