

Giving advice isn’t easy.
It takes real talent to combine eloquence and sagacity, not to mention courage to dish it out to all who will listen.
So then, who better to take advice from than famous authors? Whip-smart, erudite and well-mannered visionaries, some of these souls spent a lifetime picking apart human characters, burying advice we can all live by within their flourishes of inky genius. Whether we knew it or not, they taught us a lot.
This charming new infographic, design store MyPrint247 has compiled 50 brilliant quotes of inspiration from famous authors, divvying them up by categories including Laughter, Life, Success, Well-being, Writing, Past, Love, Happiness and Travel – you know, the important stuff.
Take, for example, Bram Stoker’s nice flourish from his masterpiece of macabre Dracula – “Knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.” Solid advice we can all adhere to, even beyond situations in which the undead don’t figure.
Some of our other favourite lines include Sylvia Path’s “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt”, Stephen King’s brutally frank “Get busy living or get busy dying”, and L.P. Hartley’s whimsical musing “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there".
He wasn’t wrong. So start your future today by taking heed from these 50 pieces of excellent literary advice.
Get exclusive shortlists, celebrity interviews and the best deals on the products you care about, straight to your inbox.

As Content Director of Shortlist, Marc likes nothing more than to compile endless lists of an evening by candlelight. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.
-
The 10 greatest ambient albums of all time
Kick back, chill out, and let some of the best ambient albums ever take you on a sonic journey of discovery.
-
Coheed and Cambria vs Taking Back Sunday: New Jersey emo legends pick each other’s greatest tracks
From doing favours across the Atlantic to a decade under each other’s influence, Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara and Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez talk their enduring friendship.