William Lyon Phelps Quotes & Sayings

The principle of happiness should be like the principle of virtue: it should not be dependent of things, but be a part of personality [and character]. — William Lyon Phelps

The greatest of all the arts is the art of living together! — William Lyon Phelps

If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything. — William Lyon Phelps

You can learn more about human nature by reading the Bible than by living in New York. — William Lyon Phelps

If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow. — William Lyon Phelps

There is a strange reluctance on the part of most people to admit they enjoy life. — William Lyon Phelps

One appreciates that daily life is really good when one wakes from a horrible dream, or when one takes the first outing after a sickness. Why not realize it now? — William Lyon Phelps

In the whole story of Jesus Christ, the most important event is the resurrection. — William Lyon Phelps

Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down. — William Lyon Phelps

Real happiness is not dependent on external things. — William Lyon Phelps

PAINT THE WALLS OF your mind With many beautiful pictures. — William Lyon Phelps

Two persons who love each other are in a place more holy than the interior of a church. — William Lyon Phelps

I divide all readers into two classes: those who read to remember and those who read to forget. — William Lyon Phelps

You can be deprived of your money, your job and your home by someone else, but remember that no one can ever take away your honor. — William Lyon Phelps

The amazing activity of the cat is delicately balanced by his capacity for relaxation. Every household should contain a cat, not only for decorative and domestic values, but because the cat in quiescence is medicinal to irritable, tense, tortured men and women. — William Lyon Phelps

Being educated means to prefer the best not only to the worst but to the second best. — William Lyon Phelps

Whenever it is in any way possible, every boy and girl should choose as his life work some occupation which he should like to do anyhow, even if he did not need the money. — William Lyon Phelps

The happiest people in this world are those who have the most interesting thoughts. — William Lyon Phelps

The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others. — William Lyon Phelps

Why is it that so many people are afraid to admit they are happy? — William Lyon Phelps

To a man the greatest blessing is individual liberty; to a dog it is the last word in despair. — William Lyon Phelps

In a start-up company, you basically throw out all assumptions every three weeks. — William Lyon Phelps

Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. — William Lyon Phelps

The kind of happiness that stays with you is the happiness that springs from inward thoughts and emotions. — William Lyon Phelps

The belief that youth is the happiest time of life is founded on a fallacy. The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts, and we grow happier as we grow older. — William Lyon Phelps

God speaks to me not through the thunder and the earthquake, nor through the ocean and the stars, but through the Son of Man, and speaks in a language adapted to my imperfect sight and hearing. — William Lyon Phelps

Never try to outsmart a woman, unless you are another woman. — William Lyon Phelps

Honesty is not necessarily the best policy. The best policy would be to acquire a reputation for honesty and then to cheat at the psychological moment. — William Lyon Phelps

A well-ordered life is like climbing a tower; the view halfway up is better than the view from the base, and it steadily becomes finer as the horizon expands. — William Lyon Phelps

If I were running the world I would have it rain only between 2 and 5 a.m. Anyone who was out then ought to get wet. — William Lyon Phelps

I find daily life not always joyous, but always interesting. I have some sad days and nights, but none that are dull. As I advance deeper into the vale of years, I live with constantly increasing gusto and excitement. I am sure it all means something; in the last analysis, I am an optimist because I believe in God. Those who have no faith are quite naturally pessimists and I do not blame them. — William Lyon Phelps

There is never much trouble in any family where the children hope someday to resemble their parents. — William Lyon Phelps

Life, with all it's sorrows, cares, perplexities and heart-breaks, is more interesting than bovine placidity, hence more desirable. The more interesting it is, the happier it is. — William Lyon Phelps

Herein lies the real value of education. Advanced education may or may not make men and women more efficient; but it enriches personality, increases the wealth of the mind, and hence brings happiness. — William Lyon Phelps

I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without a Bible. — William Lyon Phelps

The fear of life is the favorite disease of the 20th century. — William Lyon Phelps

Every time you acquire a new interest, even more, a new accomplishment, you increase your power of life. — William Lyon Phelps

But in a private library, you can at any moment converse with Socrates or Shakespeare or Carlyle or Dumas or Dickens or Shaw or Barrie or Galsworthy. And there is no doubt that in these books you see these men at their best. They wrote for you. They "laid themselves out," they did their ultimate best to entertain you, to make a favorable impression. You are necessary to them as an audience is to an actor; only instead of seeing them masked, you look into their innermost heart of heart. — William Lyon Phelps

If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible. — William Lyon Phelps

The highest happiness on earth is marriage. Every man who is happily married is a successful man even if he has failed in everything else. — William Lyon Phelps

Nature makes boys and girls lovely to look upon so they can be tolerated until they acquire some sense. — William Lyon Phelps

Unlimited power is worse for the average person than unlimited alcohol; and the resulting intoxication is more damaging for others. Very few have not deteriorated when given absolute dominion. It is worse for the governor than for the governed. — William Lyon Phelps

One of the secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity acute. — William Lyon Phelps

How essential it is in youth to acquire some intellectual or artistic tastes, in order to furnish the mind, to be able to live inside a mind with attractive and interesting pictures on the walls. — William Lyon Phelps

A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him. — William Lyon Phelps

Whenever it is possible, a boy should choose some occupation which he should do even if he did not need the money. — William Lyon Phelps

I do not know how wicked American millionaires are, but as I travel about and see the results of their generosity in the form of hospitals, churches, public libraries, universities, parks, recreation grounds, art museums and theatres I wonder what on earth we should do without them. — William Lyon Phelps

A bibliophile of little means is likely to suffer often. Books don't slip from his hands but fly past him through the air, high as birds, high as prices. — William Lyon Phelps

This is the final test of a gentleman: His respect for those who can be of no possible service to him. — William Lyon Phelps

At a certain age some people's minds close up; they live on their intellectual fat. — William Lyon Phelps

A middle-aged cat will often play as unreservedly as a kitten, though he knows perfectly well it is only a game. — William Lyon Phelps

Marriage is a fine and sacred thing if you make it so. — William Lyon Phelps

The teacher should make a concerted effort never to lose his temper in the presence of the class. If a man, he may take refuge in profane soliloquies. If a woman, she may follow the example of one sweet-faced tranquil girl who went out in the yard and gnawed a post. — William Lyon Phelps

A student never forgets an encouraging private word, when it is given with sincere respect and admiration. — William Lyon Phelps

My religious faith remains in possession of the field only after prolonged civil war with my naturally skeptical mind. — William Lyon Phelps

The highest happiness on earth is the happiness of marriage. — William Lyon Phelps