Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Advice
The worst men often give the best advice.
Our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts.
Bailey—Festus. Sc. A Village Feast. Evening. L. 917.
Un fat quelquefois ouvre un avis important.
A fop sometimes gives important advice.
Boileau—L’Art Poétique. IV. 50.
Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet,
To think how mony counsels sweet,
How mony lengthened, sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises.
Burns—Tam o’ Shanter. L. 33.
And may you better reck the rede,
Than ever did th’ adviser.
Burns—Epistle to a Young Friend.
She had a good opinion of advice,
Like all who give and eke receive it gratis.
For which small thanks are still the market price,
Even where the article at highest rate is.
Byron—Don Juan. Canto XV. St. 29.
Dicen, que el primer consejo
Ha de ser de la muger.
They say that the best counsel is that of woman.
Calderon—El Médico de su Honra. I. 2.
Let no man value at a little price
A virtuous woman’s counsel; her wing’d spirit
Is feather’d oftentimes with heavenly words.
George Chapman—The Gentleman Usher. Act IV. Sc. 1.
’Twas good advice, and meant,
“My son, be good.”
George Crabb—The Learned Boy. Vol. V. Tale XXI.
Know when to speake; for many times it brings
Danger to give the best advice to kings.
Herrick—Caution in Councell.
Quidquid præcipies esto brevis.
Whatever advice you give, be short.
Horace—Ars Poetica. CCCXXXV.
We give advice, but we do not inspire conduct.
La Rochefoucauld—Maxim 403.
In rebus asperis et tenui spe fortissima quæque consilia tutissima sunt.
In great straits and when hope is small, the boldest counsels are the safest.
Livy—Annales. XXV. 38.
No adventures mucho tu riqueza
Por consejo de hombre que ha pobreza.
Hazard not your wealth on a poor man’s advice.
Manuel—Conde Lucanor.
Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke. XVII. 32.
C’est une importune garde, du secret des princes, à qui n’en à que faire.
The secret counsels of princes are a troublesome burden to such as have only to execute them.
Montaigne—Essays. III. 1.
Primo dede mulieris consilio, secundo noli.
Take the first advice of a woman and not the second.
Gilbertus Cognatus Noxeranus—Sylloge. See J. J. Grynæus—Adagio. P. 130. Langius—Polyanthea Col. (1900) same sentiment. (Prends le premier conseil d’une femme et non le second. French for same.)
Consilia qui dant prava cautis hominibus,
Et perdunt operam et deridentur turpiter.
Those who give bad advice to the prudent, both lose their pains and are laughed to scorn.
Phædrus—Fabulæ. I. 25.
Be niggards of advice on no pretense;
For the worst avarice is that of sense.
Pope—Essay on Criticism. L. 578.
In the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
Proverbs. XI. 14; XXIV. 6.
Vom sichern Port lässt sich’s gemächlich rathen.
One can advise comfortably from a safe port.
Schiller—Wilhelm Tell. I. 1. 146.
Bosom up my counsel,
You’ll find it wholesome.
Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 112.
When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again.
King Lear. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 76.
Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice
Hath often still’d my brawling discontent.
Measure for Measure. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 8.
I pray thee cease thy counsel,
Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a sieve.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 3.
Direct not him, whose way himself will choose;
’Tis breath thou lack’st, and that breath wilt thou lose.
Richard II. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 29.
Many receive advice, only the wise profit by it.
Syrus—Maxim 152.
Che spesso avvien che ne’ maggior perigli
Son più audaci gli ottimi consigli.
For when last need to desperation driveth,
Who dareth most he wisest counsel giveth.
Tasso—Gerusalemme. VI. 6.
A dead father’s counsel, a wise son heedeth.
Tegnèr—Fridthjof’s Saga. Canto VIII.
Facile omnes, quum valemus, recta consilia ægrotis damus.
We all, when we are well, give good advice to the sick.
Terence—Andria. II. 1. 9.