When giving advice

“When you give advice, find a private place and speak gently. Do not say that somebody else has said the criticisms that you address to your companion, that would be to speak ill.  If you phrase your advice bluntly, you will annoy and discourage. “Speak to him courteously,” the Almighty has said: “And speak unto him a gentle word.” [Qur’an 20:44]  And the Prophet – salallahu `alayhi wa sallam – said: “Do not discourage him.”  If you are advising someone, and you insist on seeing your advice taken, you are doing wrong since you could be mistaken and you would be insisting on him accepting your error and rejecting the truth.”

– Ibn Hazm, Al-Akhlaq wa’l-Siyar (Morals and Behaviour)