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Quotes about advice

119 quotes from 93 people

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It is a good divine that follows his own instructions; I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than to be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act I, Scene II, spoken by PortiaIn context
- Virtue
Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598), Act III, Scene II, spoken by BenedickIn context
- Emotion
Sell when you can; you are not for all markets.
William Shakespeare1564–1616As You Like It (c. 1599), Act III, Scene V, spoken by RosalindIn context
- Clever Jabs
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act I, Scene III, spoken by PoloniusIn context
Time enough to think of the future when you haven’t any future to think of.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Pygmalion (1912), Act II, spoken by HigginsIn context
- Time
The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.
Frank Sinatra1915–1998The Way You Wear Your Hat (1997)
- Fear
Avoid shame, but do not seek glory: nothing so expensive as glory.
Sydney Smith1771–1845Lady Holland’s Memoir (1855), Vol. I, ch. 4, pp. 134–135
- Fame
Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.
Sydney Smith1771–1845Lady Holland’s Memoir (1855), Vol. I, ch. 10, p. 372
- Emotion
Don’t be too hard on the envious. Be glad you have, or had in the past, something enviable.
Susan Sontag1933–2004Death Kit (1967), p.73 [Page numbers per the Penguin Modern Classics 2009 Edition]
- Envy
See how the trees beside a stream in flood
Save, if they yield to force, each spray unharmed,
But by resisting perish root and branch.
Sophocles496–406 BCAntigone (c. 441 BC), spoken by HaemonIn context
- Nature
- Wisdom
If I could offer one piece of advice to young people thinking about their future, it would be this: Don’t preconceive. Find out what the opportunities are.
Thomas Sowellborn 1930Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)
- Youth
It is awfully important to know what is and what is not your business.
Gertrude Stein1874–1946“What Is English Literature?” (1935)
No one wants advice — only corroboration.
John Steinbeck1902–1968The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part One, Ch. VI
You should think of your energy as if it’s expensive, as if it’s like a luxury item. Not everyone can afford it.
Taylor Swiftborn 1989New Heights podcast (13 August 2025)
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), Where I Lived, and What I Lived ForIn context
- Life & Death