ARE YOU ASKED FOR ADIVE

Abigail Van Buren:

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.

Adlai Stevenson:

We should be careful and discriminating in all the advice we give. We should be especially careful in giving advice that we would not think of following ourselves. Most of all, we ought to avoid giving counsel which we don't follow when it damages those who take us at our word.

Aeschylus:

It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.

African proverb:

It takes a village to raise a child.

Agatha Christie:

Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it.

Albert Camus:

I shall tell you a great secret my friend. Do not wait for the last judgement, it takes place every day.

Albert Schweitzer:

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.

Alfonso the Wise (attributed):

Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.

13th century


Anna Quindlen:

Recently a young mother asked for advice. What, she wanted to know, was she to do with a 7-year-old who was obstreperous, outspoken, and inconveniently willful? "Keep her," I replied.... The suffragettes refused to be polite in demanding what they wanted or grateful for getting what they deserved. Works for me.

Bessie Stanley:

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction. [published 11/30/1905 in the Lincoln (Kansas) Sentinel - an adaptation of this is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, though nothing like it has been found in his writings.]

Bessie Stanley (adapted; erroneously attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson):

Success

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, it is an adaptation of a poem published in 1905 by Bessie Stanley. No version of it has been found in Emerson's writings. For more information see