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The question

What counsel has proved most valuable to you?

Originally asked

Vogue, to one guest at a time, on camera, 73 Questions

A repeated rapid-fire prompt in Vogue's 73 Questions, verified in separate English- and Korean-language episodes.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Johnny Cash

Singer and songwriter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
It goes back to that music teacher when I was 12 years old. After the third lesson, I was singing some popular country song of the day. I forget the name. I think it was a Hank Williams, no, it was too early for Hank Williams, I guess. Whatever the song was, I didn’t sing it like the artist had sung it on the radio. And she said, “You’re a song stylist.” She said, “Always do it your way.” And from the age of 12, I didn’t forget that.

Academy of Achievement interview, Glacier Park, Montana, 25 June 1993 source ↗

Others on this question

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Tony Fadell Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Elliot, he has such passion for what it was we were doing that he instilled that passion in me. He was like, “Just go for it. Make it happen.” And I would give him some wild idea, and he’d say, “Go try it.” It was that next set of just knocking down the fear of failure. Just go try anything.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Palo Alto, California, 5 February 2016 source ↗
Leon Panetta Attorney and politician; Director of the Office of Management and Budget, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense
And I never forgot what he said, Bill Clinton. He looked at me, and he said, “You know, Leon, you can be the greatest OMB director in the history of the world, but nobody’s going to remember you if the White House has fallen apart!” I never forgot that.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Seaside, California, 14 September 2017 source ↗
Joan Baez Folk singer, songwriter and activist
The best advice I got from a painter friend of mine when I said, “If you had one thing to say to an aspiring artist like myself, what would you say?” And she said, “Make as many mistakes as you can.”
Recorded Krista Tippett, On Being, 26 November 2024 source ↗
Sonia Sotomayor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 2009–present
He asked me to go through the evidence of the cases, which I did. And at the end of it he said, “Well, you have one thing missing.” I said “What, I thought I covered all of the bases. I made the best arguments that I think the evidence would support.” And he looked at me, and he said, “That may all be true, but you’re missing passion. You related this crime and your evidence in a very impersonal way. How did you make the jury want to convict?” I said “Well, the judge charges them, tells them they have to convict if I prove my case.” And he said, “No, sentencing, not sentencing, finding someone guilty is a huge responsibility. You have to make people believe it’s what they have to do. And you have to make them believe that the evidence that you’ve presented gives them basically no choice.” And so I said, “How do you do that?” And he explained to me that it’s in the manner that you present your case. It’s in the manner that you show how passionately you believe in what you’re doing. And in how much you believe that you’ve actually proven your case and that they must return a verdict of guilty. And his words have led me to believe that that passion is what guarantees success in life.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Washington, D.C., 6 December 2016 source ↗

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