Recommendation

“ INTRODUCTION Of all the difficult, hazardous and thankless tasks which well-meaning persons can choose for the improvement of their fellows, perhaps none is so unproductive, in some quarters, as book-selection and the recommendation of reading matter. In ninety cases out of a hundred, persons who read books recommended by others will contemn the judgment and taste of the recommender, and even hint at a certain lack of knowledge and critical perception. ”

“ ‘to be plain with you, friend, you don’t carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation.’
‘It’s not my wish,’ said the traveller. ”

“ Every one who has had extensive acquaintances, and been exposed to frequent requests for letters of recommendation, and to procure the intervention and aid of opulent friends, must feel the importance and justice of these remarks. ”

“ A good face, they say, is a letter of recommendation. O Nature, Nature, why art thou so dishonest as ever to send men with these false recommendations into the world?" ”

“ Letters of Recommendation should be written only when they are positively necessary, and great caution should be used in giving them. They make you, in a measure, responsible for the conduct of another, and if you give them frequently, on slight grounds, you will certainly have cause to repent your carelessness. ”

“ That is the chief cause of the recommendation; it brings about the result it simulates. Make believe, as well as you know how, and the probability is that you will not even know when the transition from pretended to real interest comes. ”

“ In the first place servants are constantly taken without being required to bring a recommendation from their last place; and in the next, recommendations are constantly given, whether from indolence or mistaken kindness, to servants who do not deserve them. ”

“ Mine have plagued me long, and are now falling out, merely from want of care when I was your age. Do you dress well, and not too well? Do you consider your air and manner of presenting yourself enough, and not too much? Neither negligent nor stiff? All these things deserve a degree of care, a second-rate attention; they give an additional lustre to real merit. My Lord Bacon says, that a pleasing figure is a perpetual letter of recommendation. It is certainly an agreeable forerunner of merit, and smoothes the way for it. ”

“ Even those whom wisdom or virtue have placed above regard to such petty recommendations, must nevertheless be gained by similitude of manners. The highest and noblest enjoyment of familiar life, the communication of knowledge, and reciprocation of sentiments, must always pre-suppose a disposition to the same inquiry, and delight in the same discoveries. ”

“ Showing that if a good face is a letter of recommendation, a good heart is a letter of credit. ”

“ But recommendations which analyze the merits of a work, and which, by exhibiting its prominent features in a striking light, are calculated to carry conviction to the reader that the system recommended is meritorious, the author is proud to have it in his power to present in this volume. ”

“ Any person of good moral character, over eighteen years of age, approving the objects of the association, may become a member on recommendation of the Committee on Membership, duly reported to and approved by the association. ”

“ The Review should take a wide~ranging and independent examination of the evidence and provide recommendations that are fit for purpose and meet public concerns. Recommendations should seek to identify measures that are more likely to result in businesses collectively and individually changing their behaviour and which empower consumers to voice their concerns more effectively. ”

“ When it is necessary to choose persons wholly untried, the best criteria are, reputation for ability among those who personally know them, and the confidence placed and recommendations given by persons already looked up to. ”

“ In the multitude of counsellors there is Wisdom, no doubt, but when the multitude is large enough to advise every possible course, it is just as easy to run through all the courses open to adoption by oneself, and choose one on the strength of its visible recommendations. ”

“ If you ask my opinion as to whether you should follow his invitation to advise him and give him information with regard to individuals, I would decidedly urge you to do so. I am sure, the advice of such men as you are, is just the thing he needs, and, I am glad to say, just the thing he desires. ”

“ This fruitless wisdom, therefore, having been offered in all the different figures of advice, I found it impossible to conclude any thing concerning the manner, or tone of voice, the looks or nods most conducing to prudence. But perhaps an habitual adviser may not think the inquiry important, since his purpose is usually gained though his counsel should not be followed, and he succeeds in proving himself a wise man though he fails to make his friend one. ”

“ We are practically reduced to conjecture. In a letter of counsel to his son in after years, he gave him a weighty piece of advice, which, is pretty plainly the key to the reality and fruitfulness of his own knowledge. ”

“ He is famous for giving advice—advice of a vague, rapid, sprawling kind, never quite exact to the circumstances, never quite practical nor to the point—large advice, general in scope but wonderfully positive in tone, and, until you analyze, grandly imposing in effect. ”

“ There are occasions in life in which such knowledge as I possess of the world and its ways may be of great service. Now, without for an instant obtruding myself on your confidence, or inquiring into affairs which are strictly your own, I wish to say that my advice and counsel, if you need either, are completely at your service. ”

“ I say they will be without advisers, because, though advice in one sense is always cheap, yet they will be without friends, who will so far interest themselves in their welfare, as to watch the occasions in which advice is required, and to take the pains and trouble, of investigating facts, and of acquiring the knowledge which can alone render them competent, to advise with judgment, to support their advice with sufficient reasons, or to weigh properly the objections which may be made to it. ”

“ Advice is given to many thousands, which, though it may not be the best advice possible, is better than no advice at all. Then that description of the work criticised, that compressing of the much into very little,—which is the work of many modern critics or reviewers,—does enable many to know something of what is being said, who without it would know nothing. ”

“ Seeing the answers and responses of sage and judicious men have in no manner of way satisfied you, take advice of some fool, and possibly by so doing you may come to get that counsel which will be agreeable to your own heart's desire and contentment. ”

“ In writing your letter of advice, give your judgement as an opinion, not a law, and say candidly that you will not feel hurt if contrary advice offered by any other, more competent to judge in the case, is taken. While your candor may force you to give the most unpalatable counsel, let your courtesy so express it, that it cannot give offence. ”

“ Delivering an address of good counsel to men of understanding is like watering the roots of living plants.
719. O ye that desire to delight the wise by your discourses! beware of addressing even by mistake an audience of fools. ”

“ On the other hand, we, comparative philologists, should readily ask and gladly accept the advice and help of our classical colleagues. Without their guidance, we can never advance securely; their warnings are to us of the greatest advantage, their approval our best reward. ”

“ There is always a personal equation in all our judgments, so that we feel that they require to be amended by comparison with those of others. Doctors ask for a consultation, when a case becomes critical. We all realize the advantage of taking counsel. To ask for advice is a benefit, whether we follow the advice or no. ”

“ His hearers may admit the truth of every word he speaks and the goodness of the course he advises, but they can comply with his advice at any time, and in that feeling they may postpone their action for years, if not permanently. ”

“ I've no business to advise you. I've come to the conclusion that advice well followed is ruinous. Genius seldom takes advice, and nobody else is worth advising. I took advice and went into a newspaper office twenty years ago. ”

“ Let any person, if he wishes to comprehend the matter fully, tax his mind to the utmost in a thousand different ways in a day, seeking to advise and counsel for the best good of those who apply to him, and he will find that it will fast wear him down to the grave. ”

“ On several subjects the author gives very detailed instructions and advice as to the best way of dealing with people, and his counsels are so right and sensible, that they might well be read now, not out of mere curiosity, but for profit. ”

“ It would be rank presumption for any person, even though gifted with the means to circulate his suggestions as widely as possible, and armed with the power to compel the reading of his publications, to think that any suggestions of his could influence any considerable number of his fellow-citizens of the world, or even of his own immediate neighbourhood, to accept or follow his advice relative to the management of their lives and of their communal and national affairs ”

“ By this speech, though delivered with the solemnity of an oracle, very little information was communicated to his lordship. When people [249] ask for advice, they should, in order to save their friends a great deal of trouble, state explicitly what sort of advice they wish to have. It is for want of this honesty and explicitness that so much good advice is continually thrown away. ”

“ I do not desire that you should get other people to do your business, or to think for you; I only wish you to consult with, to call in, as counsellors, men the most distinguished for their knowledge and experience, the result of which counsel must ultimately depend upon yourself. ”

“ You really are not fit to manage any important matter alone. At Dudleigh you have your papa to advise with, at London your papa's solicitors, and here at Dalton you need a sound adviser too. Now is there any one in whom you could put greater confidence, or who could give you better advice on innumerable matters, than the unworthy being who now addresses you? ”

“ Something accrues from special attention continuously directed for many years to a particular field of observation and reflection, giving a value to counsel about it that would not be allowed on the ground of native talent or learning on the part of the counsel-giver. ”

“ I would recommend to every individual a proper diligence in providing; and if the brethren who have would open their hearts and distribute in wisdom, it would be a very good thing; and I know that they do in a great measure. ”

“ When selecting his advisers and instruments he will have the whole mass of talent, knowledge and character to be found among the true men of the country to choose from, without being narrowed down to a given circle by established claims on his gratitude. ”

“ Each requires of the practitioner a certain shutting of the eyes, a certain dapperness and compliance, an acceptance of customs, a sequestration from the sentiments of generosity and love, a compromise of private opinion and lofty integrity.... ”

“ They perform this duty the more willingly, from a conviction that such counsel and advice as they may communicate, will be received and listened to with attention, from the circumstance of its proceeding from those who have long had your best interests at heart. ”

“ What happens to him afterwards seldom reaches the ears of his former counsel. Whether the advice given to him in consultation has proved right or wrong in practice, rarely becomes known to the great man who gave it. ”

“ Lastly, I would counsel you that, in deciding on the line which you will take in public affairs, you should be guided in your decision by that which, after mature deliberation, you believe to be right, and not by that which, in the passing hour, may happen to be fashionable or popular. ”

“ May I not hope to meet with the same candour that I show to others, and be admitted to act from the same honest principles, in recommending what I think an improvement of practice, that I allow those who have pursued a plan different from mine? ”

“ As you are neither learned nor sufficiently instructed in letters or in the difficult matters which are to be discussed, to take counsel of yourself, touching what you should do or reply, we offer you to choose as your advocate one or more of those present, as you will. ”

“ They seek for guidance and assurance, if guidance and assurance there may be, on matters you have made a special study, and instead of showing them how to be sure, you only tell them that you are sure. ”

“ It aims at bringing together those who are willing to learn, that the men of long practice and mature counsel may explain to the inexperienced, and to beginners full of youthful vigour and energy, what is worth observing and how to observe it. ”

“ We know that they understand more about these things than we do. When questions arise, whether in politics, finance, morals or law, requiring the judgment of sound and experienced men, or when circumstances arise in our individual lives which are perplexing and of such a nature as to exhaust our ability, we naturally seek the counsel of these our brethren; and our experience has proven them to be masters of the situation; that they are skilled in their profession and abundantly able to direct us. ”