“I have known many people to ask for advice but very few who wanted it and none who followed it.”
The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957)
“In general, people only ask for advice that they may not follow it; or, if they should follow it, that they may have somebody to blame for having given it.”
—
Alexandre Dumas
,
book
The Three Musketeers
Variant: As a general rule... people ask for advice only in order not to follow it; or if they do follow it, in order to have someone to blame for giving it.
Source: The Three Musketeers
Last update June 3, 2021.
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Alexandre Dumas 123
French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer a… 1802–1870Related quotes
Umar
(585–644) Second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate and a companion of Muhammad
As quoted in Omar the Great : The Second Caliph Of Islam (1962) by Muhammad Shibli Numani, Vol. 2, p. 33
Context: Remember, I have not appointed you as commanders and tyrants over the people. I have sent you as leaders instead, so that the people may follow your example. Give the Muslims their rights and do not beat them lest they become abused. Do not praise them unduly, lest they fall into the error of conceit. Do not keep your doors shut in their faces, lest the more powerful of them eat up the weaker ones. And do not behave as if you were superior to them, for that is tyranny over them.
“I have followed my ear and my heart, which may be false. I hope not.”
F. S. Flint
(1885–1960) English Imagist poet
Preface, In the Net of Stars, 1909
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Bob Dylan
(1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Song lyrics, Slow Train Coming (1979), Gotta Serve Somebody
Variant: It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody.
“I give you advice, which could I myself follow, I should be happy.”
Peter Abelard
(1079–1142) French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician
Letter I : Abelard To Philintus, as translated by John Hughes<!-- 1782 edition -->
Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Context: Sometimes I grieve for the house of the Paraclete, and wish to see it again. Ah, Philintus! does not the love of Heloise still burn in my heart? I have not yet triumphed over that happy passion. In the midst of my retirement I sigh, I weep, I pine, I speak the dear name of Heloise, pleased to hear the sound, I complain of the severity of Heaven. But, oh! let us not deceive ourselves: I have not made a right use of grace. I am thoroughly wretched. I have not yet torn from my heart deep roots which vice has planted in it. For if my conversion was sincere, how could I take a pleasure to relate my past follies? Could I not more easily comfort myself in my afflictions? Could I not turn to my advantage those words of God himself, If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if the world hate you, ye know that it hated me also? Come Philintus, let us make a strong effort, turn our misfortunes to our advantage, make them meritorious, or at least wipe out our offences; let us receive, without murmuring, what comes from the hand of God, and let us not oppose our will to his. Adieu. I give you advice, which could I myself follow, I should be happy.
Donald Rumsfeld
(1932) U.S. Secretary of Defense
As quoted in "My Date With Rummy: Now 84, The Former Secretary Of Defense Is As Wily As Ever" https://taskandpurpose.com/donald-rumsfeld-secretary-defense (12 June 2017), by Adam Linehan, Task & Purpose
2010s