"Advice is such a tricky thing when you're young"
About this Quote
The subtext is about power. Adults and institutions love advice because it feels generous while preserving hierarchy: I’ve been where you are, so I get to narrate your path. For young people, the cost is that accepting guidance can feel like accepting a script. Rejecting it can look like arrogance. Either way, you’re being evaluated. “Tricky” is the language of someone who’s lived that double bind, especially in an industry like acting where “notes” and “feedback” are constant, and where a young performer’s boundaries are routinely negotiated by agents, directors, audiences, and headlines.
Malone’s intent reads less like a warning than a permission slip: you’re allowed to be ambivalent. Sometimes advice is a lifeline; sometimes it’s a way of outsourcing someone else’s anxiety onto you. The line acknowledges that youth isn’t a deficiency to be corrected. It’s a period when experimentation is the point, and advice can either widen the field of possibility or quietly shrink it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Youth |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Malone, Jena. (2026, January 16). Advice is such a tricky thing when you're young. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/advice-is-such-a-tricky-thing-when-youre-young-89341/
Chicago Style
Malone, Jena. "Advice is such a tricky thing when you're young." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/advice-is-such-a-tricky-thing-when-youre-young-89341/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Advice is such a tricky thing when you're young." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/advice-is-such-a-tricky-thing-when-youre-young-89341/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.











