This is a good question to aspire to have an answer to. For most people it means something like: "What's the most important, most holistic piece of wisdom you could give me, which opens up onto the rest of your concerns, unlocking the better questions I could ask?"
https://twitter.com/alexbryant_/status/1373403324561637389
This tends to be context specific, as the little taste of wisdom that will hook each individual is different, but if I had to aim to maximal generality I'd say: "The secret to life is knowing what mistakes are worth making, but you can only learn this by making some that aren't."
That's got enough of the paradox about it to be intriguing in a way that encodes an entry point into both more specific yet abstract questions in ethics and logic, while still functioning as concrete advice independently of whether those questions are chased up immediately.
It's hard to find such propositions, poised on the cusp between abstract and concrete, but it's worth trying to find some, if for no other reason than it will make dinner parties less frustrating experiences for everyone involved.
It's also worth noting that this question is often asked aggressively, with greater or lesser degrees of playfulness, as if to say: "If you love wisdom so much you spend all your time (and my taxes) searching for it, show me some you've actually found!"
It is *very* useful to have a stock response to this, either to humorously dissipate the tension, or to hoist the bastard by their own petard. One can do the former by self-effacement, rejecting the implied responsibility of studying/teaching philosophy, but not the latter.
The type of person who seeks to belittle you by putting you on the interrogative spot needs to learn a quite particular bit of wisdom: "Never ask a question you do not expect to be answered." Do your best to make sure that they learn this, with as much flair as you can manage.
That's my philosophy, anyway.🖖
(This thread brought to you by the panic attack induced by that one family member who insists on belittling you by asking such questions, and whether you've got a job yet, even when you're clearly in a depressive episode. Solidarity in spite.)
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