Before you give advice, that is to say advice which you have not been asked to give, it is well to put to yourself two questions - namely, what is your motive for giving it, and what is it likely to be worth? If these questions were always asked, and honestly answered, there would be less advice given.
Interpretation
Before offering unsolicited advice, consider your intentions and its potential value.
This quote by John William Mackail emphasizes the importance of reflecting on one's motives and the relevance of unsolicited advice. It suggests that many people offer advice without fully considering whether it is appropriate or beneficial, which could lead to unnecessary confusion or misguidance.
In practice
During team meetings, remind colleagues of the importance of considering motives before giving feedback.
Most people, if they were generous, were so because they thought life was short and that one must make the most of it. Sid Baxter was generous because he knew that life was long. It went on and on even when you had no use for it anymore. It was happiness, not life, that was short, and when it visited - in the form of a fine evening spent talking with a friend - he honoured it.
The definition of the good life is doing creative things, whether making music, trying to figure out how to do a particular piece of code, or putting together investments.
If you get a call to go to a certain place in the middle of the night to pick up stolen goods, and it turns out the stolen goods don't show up but the cops show up, I think you're going to have a very weak story saying, 'Well, I got swindled here.'
I have always tried to be true to myself, to pick those battles I felt were important. My ultimate responsibility is to myself. I could never be anything else.
Nine-tenths of the miseries and vices of mankind proceed from idleness.
The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.
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