Do As You Please

There is a little quirk of human nature worth a second look. We seek out advice and guidance, we consult with experts, and may even peruse a few volumes in the library, hoping for insight and wisdom. As a result, we assimilate the best, available ideas and thinking about our problem or issue.

Do we then act based on all of that fine knowledge? Well, usually we do; but the little quirk is sometimes we don’t, even though we know better than we do. As Mary Wortley said, “Sometimes I give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.”

It’s definitely human nature, since it’s been around for at least a couple thousand years. Cicero said, “Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” That’s why we do what we want to do, despite all that good advice from experts. It’s like Erica Jong noted, “Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't;” or Charles Varlet de La Grange, Pensées, “When we ask advice we are usually looking for an accomplice.” In the end, the famous Anon. likely has the advice we need, “The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others;” since, as François Duc de La Rochefoucauld pointed out, “It is more easy to be wise for others than for ourselves.”