New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- "The world is full of people who are willing to give you advice, but none of them are willing to pay your taxes."

- Lucy van Pelt

Some advice comes freely, some comes whether it is wanted or not, and almost all of it comes without the responsibility of dealing with what happens next. That is what makes Lucy van Pelt's line so enduring: beneath the joke about taxes is a familiar truth about human behaviour.

Lucy, one of the central characters in Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, is rarely short of an opinion. She is confident, outspoken and frequently convinced that she knows exactly what everyone around her should be doing. Her advice is often delivered with absolute certainty, even when the person receiving it has not...