This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"How true Daddy’s words were when he said: “All children must look after their own upbringing.” Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands." - Anne Frank, fully Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank
"Unwelcome are the loiterer, who makes appointments he never keeps; the consulter, who asks advice he never follows; the boaster, who seeks for praise he does not merit; the complainer, who whines only to be pitied; the talker, who talks only because he loves to talk always; the profane and obscene jester, whose words defile; the drunkard, whose insanity has tot the better of his reason; and the tobacco-chewer and smoker, who poisons the atmosphere and nauseates others." - Author Unknown NULL
"When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I asked." - Author Unknown NULL
"Do not be inaccessible. None is so perfect that he does not need at times the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who will never listen to any one... A friend must be free to advise, and even to upbraid, without feeling embarrassed." - Baltasar Gracián
"The profoundly wise do not declaim against superficial knowledge in others, so much as the profoundly ignorant; on the contrary, they would rather assist it with their advice that overwhelm it with their contempt; for they know that there was a period when even a Bacon or a Newton were superficial, and that he who has little knowledge is far more likely to get more that has none." - Charles Caleb Colton
"We ask advice, but we mean approbation." - Charles Caleb Colton
"When in reading we meet with any maxim that may be of use, we should take it for our own, and make an immediate application of it, as we would of the advice of a friend whom we have purposely consulted." - Charles Caleb Colton
"When we feel a strong desire to thrust our advice upon others, it is usually because we suspect their weakness; but we ought rather to suspect our own." - Charles Caleb Colton
"Self-trust comes through direct experience, which remind us to pay attention first to our own experience, not to advice from a book or teacher." - Dan Millman, born Daniel Jay Millman
"Truth is perfect and complete in itself. It is not something newly discovered; it has always existed. Truth is not far away. It is nearer than near. There is no need to attain it, since not one of your steps leads away from it. Don't follow the advice of others; rather, learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become one, and you will realize the unity of all things." -
"Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"We may give advice, but we cannot inspire conduct." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't." - Erica Mann Jong
"He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other." - Francis Bacon
"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
"There are few men who do not love better to give advice than to give assistance." - Henry David Thoreau, born David Henry Thoreau
"Living apart and at peace with myself, I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance. To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling in the affairs of others, to refrain, even though the motives be the highest, from tampering with another's way of life - so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit. Hands off!" - Henry Miller, aka Henry Valentine Miller
"When we feel a strong desire to thrust our advice upon others, it is usually because we suspect their weakness; but we ought rather to suspect our own." - James Bryant Conant
"To profit from good advice requires more wisdom than to give it." - John Churton Collins
"To ask for advice is in nine cases out of ten to ask for flattery." - John Churton Collins
"No one wants advice - only corroboration." - John Steinbeck, fully John Ernst Steinbeck
"It's too late to ask advice when danger comes." - Latin Proverbs
"When healthy, we all have wonderful advice for the sick." - Latin Proverbs
"When a man seeks your advice he generally wants your praise." - Lord Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
"Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least." - Lord Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
"Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself." - Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
"A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." - Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I
"The advice of the elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
"A hundred sage counsels are lost upon one who cannot take advice; a hundred bits of wisdom are lost upon the unintelligent." - Panchatantra or The Panchatantra NULL
"The worldly wise know that there are things that can be told to some people but not to everyone. Then there are things that should be kept to oneself. Also there is a right or wrong time for saying things. One should say things only after giving careful consideration to all factors." - Panchatantra or The Panchatantra NULL
"In giving advice, seek to help, not to please." - Solon NULL
"No enemy is worse than bad advice." - Sophocles NULL
"Beware of him who gives thee advice according to his own interests." - Talmud or The Talmud NULL
"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate - that’s my philosophy." - Thornton Wilder, fully Thornton Niven Wilder
"We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain." - William Rounseville Alger
"The thing to do when you're impatient is to turn to your left and ask advice from your death. It is always on our left, as at arm’s length. An immense amount of pettiness is dropped if your death makes a gesture to you, or if you have the feeling that your companion is there watching you. How can anyone feel so important when we know that death is stalking us? Death is the only wise advice that we have. When we feel that everything is going wrong, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you're wrong. That nothing really matters outside its touch. Ask death's advice and drop the cursed pettiness that belongs to men that live their lives as if death will never tap them... It doesn't matter what the decision is. Nothing could be more or less serious than anything else. In a world where death is the hunter there are no small or big decisions. There are only decisions we make in the face of our inevitable death." - Carlos Castaneda, fully Carlos César Salvador Arana Castaneda
"Advice is one of those things it is far more blessed to give than to receive. " - Carolyn Wells
"The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise. We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action. It's still good advice to cross bridges as we come to them. " - David J. Schwartz, fully David Joseph Schwartz
"He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it. " - Erica Mann Jong
"All through my life the counsel to depend on prayer has been prized above almost any other advice I have ever received. It has become an integral part of me, an anchor, a constant source of strength and the basis of my knowledge of things divine." - Ezra Taft Benson
"Good advice is one of those injuries which a good man ought, if possible, to forgive, but at all events to forget at once." - Horace Smith
"Whatever advice you give, be short. " - Horace, full name Quintus Horatius Flaccus NULL