The best advice in the world will be of meager service if it is not conveyed in a way that enhances the likelihood of its acceptance. Knowledge is one thing, and communication of that knowledge is another. What is hard-won on the battlefield of experience may be dissipated in its conveyance to another. He who wishes to render advice, then, should be aware of the snares and pitfalls that lie in wait for him.
It has been said, my son, that a society which neglects its youth is a society unworthy of survival. For while libraries and museums may be repositories of our cultural heritage, it is the youth that embody our sentient aspirations, and, through their activities, redeem our errors with the vitality of innocence. Yet surging waters require dams and embankments to control their flows; their energies must be checked and directed into proper channels, lest this raw force of effluence create a destructive tide. To this end I offer some words of advice. I have drawn up seven of them; there are probably many more, but certainly there are none less.
In this podcast we discuss some life advice offered by the medieval Arabic political theorist and philosopher Ibn Zafar in his treatise, Consolation of the Ruler Amid the Hostility of His Subjects. I’ve written several articles before about him that can be found on this site (use the search box in the upper right corner), and wanted to do a podcast about some of his life advice.
Quintus Curtius 
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