The Great Wall of China.
“
Advice is cheap you can take it from me.
It's yours to keep 'cause opinions are free.
Nobody knows about the trouble I've seen.
Nobody's perfect, mister, nobody's clean.
It cost too much and takes too long to find out too late.
Some words are not heard 'til after they're spoken.
Your role was protective, your soul was too defective.
Some people just don't have a heart to be broken.
— Billy Joel
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Advice is cheap you can take it from me.
It's yours to keep 'cause opinions are free.
Nobody knows about the trouble I've seen.
Nobody's perfect, mister, nobody's clean.
It cost too much and takes too long to find out too late.
Some words are not heard 'til after they're spoken.
Your role was protective, your soul was too defective.
Some people just don't have a heart to be broken." in the context of "The Great Wall of China." to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Billy Joel" (Song lyrics, River of Dreams (1993))
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Tags
About Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949, in the Bronx, New York) is a pianist, singer and songwriter. A six-time Grammy award winner, he is one of the best selling artists in music history.
About Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949, in the Bronx, New York) is a pianist, singer and songwriter. A six-time Grammy award winner, he is one of the best selling artists in music history.
View all quotes →