Without a specific application point, a piece of classic wisdom is just a platitude.

The advice has no value until it is parsed into specific know-how that applies in certain kinds of moments. Once it is, it begins to transform the person.

Generic, uncontextualized advice is a menace- by definition it attracts the lost and the confused and only makes them more lost and more confused. Even the seemingly most universal, failsafe advice of the ‘work hard’, ‘try your best’, and ‘believe in yourself’ ilk, can be disastrous for certain people. It can merely act as a motivator and energy... See more