Advice, after all, is just experience without the pain of having to learn those lessons yourself.

That same level of honesty is required of a mentor. You have to be willing to identify a need, weakness, or even an unpleasant reality but also assure your mentee that you’re going to help him or her overcome it. The frankness builds trust, while the positive action you take builds character.

If we don’t pass on what we’ve gained, we are halting the upward reach of society, and we are denying everything that came before us that enabled us the luxury of learning those lessons we refuse to share.

And here’s the kicker: You don’t always have to agree with your mentor. In fact, some of the best learning comes from watching others’ mistakes. What matters is what you do with the lessons those mentors teach you.

While mentoring is usually about building someone up, it can occasionally be about taking someone down a notch or two, too—provided the dressing down is done with that person’s best interest at heart and that it stems from love.

every time we watch someone and make a mental note about that individual’s character or conduct, we’re being mentored.

Even simple consideration can be contagious—and that’s mentoring, too.

Humiliation is not the same thing as correction: One attacks the person; the other attacks the problem.

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.”