What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?
Recorded Lech Wałęsa said elsewhere, not written here
When I recall my own path of life I cannot but speak of the violence, hatred and lies. A lesson drawn from such experiences, however, was that we can effectively oppose violence only if we ourselves do not resort to it.

Oslo City Hall (lecture read on his behalf by Bogdan Cywiński), The Nobel Foundation, 11 December 1983 source ↗

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1993–2020; Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit 1980–1993
Having advanced well beyond what the French call "a certain age," I am often asked to convey to younger people helpful advice and counsel. So I will open these remarks with the best advice I ever received. The advice, which I have several times shared with others, was given to me by my mother-in-law on my wedding day. She had a prescription for a happy, enduring marriage: "It pays," she said, "it pays sometimes to be a little deaf."
Recorded New York Law School Law Review dinner, on accepting the Froessel Award, New York Law School Law Review (digitalcommons.nyls.edu), 12 February 1999 source ↗
Tony Fadell Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Learn by doing, not learn first, then do. The way you discover what it is you like to do in life is by doing first, then learning about it.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 5 February 2016 source ↗
Patti Smith Musician, poet and photographer
Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work and protect your work. […] Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.
Recorded Christian Lund, Louisiana Literature festival, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012, Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012 source ↗
Wole Soyinka Playwright, poet and novelist; Nobel laureate in Literature, 1986
I just say, “Follow your instincts.” Don’t feel you have to follow the paths of others, because you may not be temperamentally fitted for it. And so you’ll just harm yourself and your cause and others. But just follow your instinct, and don’t ever pretend to be what you’re not.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 3 July 2009 source ↗

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