Here is a collection of authentic advice quotes with citations that linked to original sources.
You can be sure all the quotations about advice together with attributions below are definitely correct.
Talking about giving advice…
Sometimes, your friends or even your own siblings seek your advice on some personal matters.
Make sure that the person is sincerely soliciting advice.
At times, probably they just want to vent out their bottled-up problems.
They just want you to listen to their grouses, that’s all.
The very first thing is listen attentively.
Make sure that person is actually looking for your advice, before you dish out your opinion.
Try to imagine yourself in the other person’s situation, so you can empathize with him or her.
Never judge and never promise.
A point to remember here.
Just because someone seeks for your advice, it doesn’t mean they are not obligated to accept you have to say.
Now, let’s check out these authentic advice quotes:
“What the world wants is good examples, not so much advice; advice may be wrong, but examples prove themselves.” – Josh Billings
(The quote is also found here.)
“Advice is like castor oil, easy enough to give but dreadful uneasy to take.” – Josh Billings
(The quote is also found in: The Complete Works Of Josh Billings, Henry W. Shaw, Litres, 2017, Ink Brats)
“Advice is like kissing; it costs nothing and is a pleasant thing to do.” – Josh Billings
(The quote is also found in: The Complete Works Of Josh Billings, Henry W. Shaw, Litres, 2017, Plum Pits)
“It is a safer thing any time to follow a man’s advice than his example.” – Josh Billings
(The quote is also found in: The Complete Works Of Josh Billings, Henry W. Shaw, Litres, 2017, Ramrods)
“Advice is a drug in the market; the supply always exceeds the demand.” – Josh Billings
(The quote is also found in: The Complete Works Of Josh Billings, Henry W. Shaw, Litres, 2017, Lobstir Sallad)
“It is a good divine that follows his own instructions.” – William Shakespeare
(The quote is also found in: Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice, With Association By O. J. Stevenson, Orlando: The Copp, Clark Company Limited, 1917, P. 7)
“Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.” – François De La Rochefoucauld
“Les vieillards aiment à donner de bons préceptes, pour se consoler de n’être plus en état de donner de mauvais exemples.” (French)
(The quote is also found in: Reflections: Or, Sentences and Moral Maxims By François Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Edited by John William Willis Bund, James Hain Friswell, Brentano’s, 1871, 93, P. 13)
(The quote in French is found here.)
“Nothing is given so profusely as advice.” – François De La Rochefoucauld
“On ne donne rien si libéralement que ses conseils.” (French)
(The quote is also found in: Reflections: Or, Sentences and Moral Maxims By François Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Edited by John William Willis Bund, James Hain Friswell, Brentano’s, 1871, 110, P. 15)
(The quote in French is found here.)
“We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.” – François De La Rochefoucauld
“On donne des conseils, mais on ne donne point la sagesse d’en profiter.” (French)
(The quote is also found in: Reflections: Or, Sentences and Moral Maxims By François Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Edited by John William Willis Bund, James Hain Friswell, Brentano’s, 1871, CXVII, P. 77)
(The quote in French is found here.)
“…giving Advice, was properly, taking an occasion to show our own Wisdom, at another’s expense.” – Anthony Ashley Cooper Of Shaftesbury
(The quote is also found in: Characteristicks Of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, In Three Volumes By The Right Honourable Anthony, Earl Of Shaftesbury, M.DCC XIV, 1714, Vol. I, Treatise III Viz, Concerning Enthusiasm, Soliloquy, Or Advice To An Author, A Letter, Advice &c, Part I, Sect I, P. 154)
“What a senior says all take for advice.” – Publilius Syrus
“Quod senior loquitur, omnes consilium putant.” (Latin)
(The quote is also found in: Minor Latin Poets: In Two Volumes, Volume 1, With Introduction And English Translation By J. Wight Duff & Arnold M. Duff, Harvard University Press, 1982, Publilius Syrus Sententiae, 606, P. 95)
(The quote in Latin is also found here.)
“No one wants advice – only corroboration.” – John Steinbeck
(The quote is also found here.)
“We ask advice, but we mean approbation.” – Charles Caleb Colton
(The quote is also found in: Lacon: Or, Many Things In Few Words; Addressed to Those Who Think By The Rev. C. C. Colton, New York: William Gowans, 1849, P. 116)
“Fools need advice most, but wise men only are the better for it.” – Benjamin Franklin
(The quote is also found here.)
(Another source of the quote is found in: The Autobiography, And Other Writings Of Benjamin Franklin: With Selections From Poor Richard’s Almanac And Papers Relating To The Junto, New York : Dodd, Mead, 1963, P. 199)
“Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.” – The Earl Of Chesterfield
(The quote is also found in: The Works Of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters To His Son, Etc : To Which Is Prefixed An Original Life Of The Author By Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1838 Letter CXXXVIII, London, January 29. O. S. 1748, P. 172)
(Another source of the quote is found in: Letters Written By Earl Of Chesterfield To His Son, In Three Volumes, Vol. I, London: Thomas Tegg, 1827, Letter CVI, London, January 29th, O. S. 1748, P. 245)
“We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.” – Benjamin Franklin
(The quote is also found here.)
(Another source of the quote is found in: Autobiography, Poor Richard, And Later Writings: Letters From London, 1757-1775, Paris, 1776-1785, Philadelphia, 1785-1790, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1733-1758, The Autobiography, Edited By Joseph A. Leo Lemay, New York: Library of America, 1997, P. 523)
Note: There is a very similar or rather same quote by Francois De La Rochefoucault.
“We may bestow advice, but we cannot inspire the conduct.” – Francois De La Rochefoucault
“On donne des conseils mais on n’inspire point de conduite.” (French)
(This quote is also found in: Reflections: Reflections & Moral Maxims of Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld by François duc de La Rochefoucauld, D.P. Elder and M. Shepard, 1902, 378, P. 101)
(The quote in French is found here.)
“There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.” – Joseph Addison
(The quote is also found here.)
“There is nobody who can give sounder advice than yourself.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Nemo est qui tibi sapientius suadere possit te ipso.” (Latin)
(The quote is also found in: Cicero XXV: Letters To His Friends, Translated By William Glynn Williams, Harvard University Press, 1970, Book II, P. 113)
(The quote in Latin is found in: Cicero The Letters To His Friends, With An English Translation By W. Glynn Williams, M.A., In Three Volumes, Vol. I, London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1927, Book II, I-VII. To Gaius Scribonius Curio, VII, M. T. C. Procos. S. D. C. Curioni Trib.Pl, In Castris ad Pindenissum, A.U.C. 703, P. 112)
(The quote in Latin is also found in: Ciceronis Selectae Quaedam Epistolae, Philadephiae: Sumptibus H. Perkins, 1836, Epistola VII, M. T. C. Proconsul C. Curioni, Tribuno Plebis, S. D., P. 19)
Note: The quote is from the letter Cicero wrote to a Scribonius Curio, a friend who helped him during the Catiline Conspiracy (aka second Catilinarian conspiracy).
“I always pass on good advice. It’s the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.” – Oscar Wilde
(An Ideal Husband By Oscar Wilde, London: Leonard Smithers And Co., 1899, First Act, P. 49)
(The quote is also found in: An Ideal Husband By Oscar Wilde, Dover Publications, 2000, Act I)
“There are two things which a man should scrupulously avoid: giving advice that he would not follow, and asking advice when he is determined to pursue his own opinion.” – Norman Macdonald
“We advise others better than ourselves.” – Norman Macdonald
“People are always willing to follow advice when it accords with their own wishes.” – Countess Of Blessington
(The quote is also found here.)
“…it is with advice as with taxation: we can endure very little of either, if they come to us in the direct way.” – Sir Arthur Helps
(The quote is also found in: Essays Written In The Intervals Of Business By Air Arthur Helps, London: William Pickering, 1841, The First Part, Advice, P. 55)
“Advice is sure of a hearing when it coincides with our previous conclusions, and therefore comes in the shape of praise, or of encouragement.” – Sir Arthur Helps
(The quote is also found in: Essays Written In The Intervals Of Business By Air Arthur Helps, London: William Pickering, 1841, The First Part, Advice, P. 54)
“We’re all mighty unselfish when it comes t’ handin’ out advice we could use ourselves.” – Kin Hubbard
(The quote is also found here.)
“There are few men who do not love better to give advice than to give assistance.” – Henry David Thoreau
(The quote is also found in: The Writings Of Henry David Thoreau, Journal, Edited By Bradford Torrey, II: 1850-September 15, 1851, Boston And New York: Houghton Mifflin And Company, 1906, Ch. I. 1859 (Age 32-33), A Burner of Brush, June 4, 1850, P. 28)
(Another source of the quote is found here.)