Menstuff® has compiled the following information on Advice
from Dad.
The Best Advice My Father Ever Gave Me
Josh Duhamel
“I remember I was really little and my dad used to have a
used-car lot. Right next to the used-car lot, this old guy named
Willy lived in this really beat-down house. I asked my dad if Willy
was poor, and he said, ‘He doesn’t have a lot of money, but
he’s rich because he’s got so much personality, he’s
got so much heart.’ That has always sort of stuck with me,
believe it or not.”
Kyle Chandler
“There were moments during rides in the car when my father
would give my two brothers, my sister, and I ‘the
word’—these little speeches where we’d sit there and
listen for half an hour while he’d talk about life and
what’s important. I think what I gained from it was that voice
inside myself, and that’s the most important thing my father
ever gave me—to listen to the voice inside myself, to take care
of it, to be an honest person, and to keep the voice healthy.
That’s something I do for my kids. When I get them in the car, I
start ‘the word.’ It starts, ‘Let me tell you kids. In
life…’ and they go, ‘Oh no.’ The same thing I
did.”
Kate Walsh
“My father told me the most important thing in life is
love.”
Josh Holloway
“My dad most definitely taught us to respect everybody
regardless of their race, their sexual preference, whatever. Growing
up on a dirt road in Georgia, that was not the normal
education.”
Donald J. Trump, mogul
“The best advice my father gave me was when he told me,
‘Know everything you can about what you’re doing.’
That was great and concise advice that I follow to this day. One
reason I’m good at making deals is because I look at every
possible angle and have my bases covered. Being thorough is
absolutely necessary for success.”
Ed Sanders, designer and star of Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition
“Before I got married, my dad said, ‘Ed, remember these
three things, and you won’t go wrong: You’re right.
I’m sorry. It will never happen again.’ Trust me—they
work.”
Tim Kurkjian, ESPN baseball analyst and author of Is This a
Great Game, or What?
“Among the many pieces of wisdom my father passed along was,
‘Never accuse without proof.’ He was a mathematician, and
without proper proof or evidence, it was unfair, he felt, to accuse
someone of wrongdoing. That philosophy has worked well for me as a
writer, because it follows the same ideals that we were taught in
journalism school about fairness and accuracy.”
Bill Engvall, comedian, author, and star of Delta Farce
“One time my mom was sunbathing on a pier at a lake. She was
in the process of slathering suntan lotion up and down her arms and
legs, and she didn’t see Dad drop quietly into the water on the
other side of the pier. I covered my mouth because I knew what he was
up to. As Mom blissfully rubbed on the lotion, Dad suddenly shot up
out of the water and grabbed her foot. Mom screamed. Her fingers
reflexively squeezed the tube of suntan lotion. A gob of gooey white
lotion spurted right into her hair. ‘Damn it, Bill! Now
I’ve got to wash my hair!’ Mom was shouting, but she was
also laughing. I thought Dad’s move was brilliant. I was only in
the second grade, but I’d learned my first major comedy lesson:
Scaring the crap out of people is funny.”
Anthony Bourdain, executive chef of New York’s Brasserie
Les Halles restaurant
“My father didn’t really give me advice. He taught by
example. ‘Listen to this!’ he would say as he handed me
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Cheap Thrills—even
though his thing was classical music. ‘Watch this!’ as he
made sure I watched Citizen Kane and 400 Blows and Dr. Strangelove.
‘This is marvelous!’ as he took a bite out of a crusty
baguette loaded with saucisson à l’ail. The message
seemed to be ‘Enjoy good things.’”
Alex “Orbi” Orbison, drummer for the band Whitestarr, star of The Rock Life (on VH1 this summer), and son of legendary late singer-songwriter Roy Orbison
“As a child, I was always looking for the easiest way to do things—skipping steps when doing chores and so on. My father and I would build model airplanes together, and on one occasion, I just couldn’t wait for the glue to dry and wound up making a mess of the plane. My dad told me, ‘When you do it right the first time, you won’t have to do it again.’ He had to reiterate that message many more times before it finally resonated.”
Marcus Samuelsson, executive chef and co-owner of New
York’s Aquavit restaurant
“I was born in Ethiopia and orphaned at the age of 3. My
sister and I were fortunate enough to be adopted by two wonderful
people from Sweden. My father, Lennart Samuelsson, knew that being a
black kid in a nearly all-white country meant that my life was bound
to be filled with challenges, and when I was growing up, the one
thing he forbade me to do was fight. Although I did not realize it at
the time, he was teaching me to outsmart my problems rather than
address them with force. Being a minority—whether it’s
because of your gender, race, or even age—is never easy, no
matter where you are, but thanks to my dad, I never grew up thinking
about that. It made me who I am today, and as a result, I look at all
of my challenges differently.”
Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings
“I learned many important lessons from my father, Daniel
Simmons, but the one that left the deepest impression was to spit
truth to power. My father spit truth on many occasions, both in his
poetry and in his actions, but the time that really stood out to me
was a day during the mid-’60s, when my family was taking a drive
out to the beach at the edge of Queens. We had driven only a few
blocks from our home when my father saw some of our neighbors
protesting outside a construction site. When he got out to
investigate, he found out that they were upset because, while the
building was being built in a black neighborhood, the contractor
hadn’t hired any black construction workers. It wasn’t
right to hire only white workers from outside the community when
there were plenty of skilled black workers living in Hollis who could
have used the opportunity. Well, after my father heard that, that was
the end of our trip to the beach. My father joined the picket line
that very afternoon and kept coming back every day until the
contractor finally caved in and hired some black workers. And it
wasn’t just raising his voice—I even saw my father risk his
life by lying down in front of a bulldozer that tried to cross the
picket line. That made a very deep impression on my brothers and me.
Watching his example taught me that if you see a truth that’s
being ignored, you have to speak up for it. Even if it’s hard,
even if it’s dangerous, and even if, on the surface, it
doesn’t look like it’s going to affect your life directly,
you still have to speak up. It helped us realize that spitting truth
to power isn’t a luxury, but a duty.”
Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers
“There were times as a kid when I was worn out on a certain
sport or with a certain team, and he sensed it. He would play with me
and come up with games to make the sport more fun. He would talk
about the qualities that all great competitors and performers have.
He not only made me want to keep competing, but he also made me want
to be the best. I carry that with me today. There were times last
season when I was knocked down repeatedly, but getting up to continue
fighting was the only option I knew.”
Jeff Daniels, actor
“When I started to make some money, I went to my dad for
some financial advice. Before he could say a word, I went on and on
about the stocks and bonds and mutual funds. Ten minutes went by in
my quest to impress him with how much I knew about something I knew
nothing about. When I finally finished, he looked at me and said,
‘Invest in yourself.’ As a self-made man, he has spent his
whole life doing just that. ‘Put your money into the one person
you can count on, the one person you know will be motivated to do
everything possible to make sure your investment is a good one.
Everything else is just a shell game.’ So I have.”
Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5
“My father taught me not to be so naive about the world.
When I was 11 years old, some kids asked me to smoke. I was confused,
so I asked my dad about it and he said, ‘You know, smoking is
terrible for you, but if you’re going to smoke, you should smoke
with me.’ So he went and bought a pack of cigarettes, and we
went up to the rooftop and lit up a cigarette. I choked my brains
out, and it was the most disgusting thing in the world. At that point
I could take it or leave it. I wasn’t lured by this mysterious
taboo anymore. So he made me feel cool about it. A lot of parents
forget that if you don’t try desperately to shelter your child
from everything, then they won’t be as curious.”
John Mellencamp, musician
“My grandfather was a coarse man, but he gave me some great
advice: ‘If you’re gonna hit a c--ksucker, kill him.’
What he meant was, don’t just talk about doing something—do
it. And put your whole heart and soul into it, or don’t even
bother. That’s pretty much how I try to live my life, and I hope
I’m passing that lesson along to my kids.”
Dean Karnazes, ultramarathoner
“It was in the summer of 1994 and I was 30 years old,
running my first 100-mile trail race in the Sierra Nevada mountains
in California. My dad told me, ‘It’ll hurt worse if you
quit.’ This tidbit of wisdom was dispensed at mile 94 during a
100-mile nonstop footrace. I’d been running for nineteen hours
straight and was in tremendous pain. He knew that if I gave up, the
pain wouldn’t go away in a few days, it would last a
lifetime.”
Mike Repole, president of Glacéau, makers of
VitaminWater
“My dad was the youngest of 14 kids born in Nice, France. He
was the only one who had the courage to move from France to New York
City in search of the life he had always dreamed of. He worked six
days a week for over 40 years as a waiter until he retired. Through
my father I learned that life is all about hard work and risk. He
taught me that if you outwork someone who is smarter than you,
you’ll always come out ahead.”
Sugar Ray Leonard, boxing champion
“You must give respect to receive respect. It’s the
best advice he gave me because it’s true.”
Steve Ralston, midfielder for the New England Revolution
“My dad said, ‘If you’re going to do something, make sure you do it right and at 100 percent.’ He told me how Lou Gehrig never took a day off. He got another player’s position because of it. I’ve been fortunate to play a long time, and I think it’s because I always want to play and keep my job.”
David Samson, president of the Florida Marlins
“The best advice my dad gave me was ‘Know when to hold
’em and when to fold ’em.’ This advice ran through my
head last year as I competed in the Ford Ironman World Championship
in Kona. My body said ‘fold ’em’ and my mind said
‘hold ’em,’ and together they worked to help me break
the finish-line tape.”
Peter Arnell, CEO of the Arnell Group and creator of new snack
food line G.O.A.T.
“My grandfather, Nathan Hutt, told me ‘Fish where the
fish are’ and ‘There’s one thing guaranteed in life:
If you sell ’em bad fish, they won’t be back
tomorrow.’ These are two pieces of advice that I have shaped my
whole life around.”
Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews hotels
“When I was ten years old I visited the Americana, in Bal
Harbor, Florida, with my dad, Preston Robert Tisch. As we walked
through the hotel, my father overheard a conversation between an
employee and a guest who wanted a wine that the hotel did not have in
its cellar. To make the point that it’s our job to accommodate
our guests in every way possible, my father had the staff contact a
few distributors and got in a case of the wine the following day. The
guest was delighted.”
David Eckstein, shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, 2006
World Series MVP
“As the youngest of five siblings, I was born into a
household where the rule was ‘Always give 100 percent.’ It
was instituted by my father, Whitey Eckstein. In school or in
baseball, giving 100 percent meant not giving in to fear when
circumstances appeared impossible—whether it was being told I
was too small to play professional baseball or being put on waivers
by the Boston Red Sox or being released from the Anaheim Angels.
Dad’s advice allows me to attack any circumstance with a
fearless attitude, knowing I did everything I could to make my dreams
come true.”
Bobby Flay, chef, cookbook author, and television
personality
“I learned three principles from my dad, Bill Flay, that
continue to guide me to this day: Always do the right thing, treat
people fairly, and make decisions for the long term. He taught me
that it’s better to look at the big picture, and in moments when
I have been surrounded by deadlines and demands, I’ve always
managed to rely on that advice. I use his advice as I run my
restaurants, work on my cookbooks, and in everyday life.”
Eric Liedtke, head of global brand marketing, Adidas
My dad taught me three things that still govern my life for the
most part: 1) respect everyone; 2) don’t burn bridges; and 3)
never quit. I think each of them speak for themselves.
Source: By: Amy Levin-Epstein and Thomas P.
Farley, www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/family-fatherhood/The_Best_Advice_My_Father_Ever_Gave_Me.shtml?cm_mmc=MSN-_-What%20Is%20A%20Father-_-Article-_-The%20Best%20Advice%20My%20Father%20Ever%20Gave%20Me
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