Top 61 Quotes & Sayings by 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.

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.

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.

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

If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens.

The fear of life is the favorite disease of the 20th century.

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

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

One of the secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity acute.

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

The final test of a gentleman is his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.

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.

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

Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good plays, good company, good conversation - what are they? They are the happiest people in the world.

The happiest people in this world are those who have the most interesting thoughts.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

The highest happiness on earth is the happiness of marriage.

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

PAINT THE WALLS OF your mind With many beautiful pictures.

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.

The greatest of all the arts is the art of living together!

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

In the whole story of Jesus Christ, the most important event is the resurrection.

Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down.

There is a strange reluctance on the part of most people to admit that they enjoy life.

Why is it so many people are afraid to admit they are happy?

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

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.

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.

Marriage is a fine and sacred thing if you make it so.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without a Bible.

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

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

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.

Real happiness is not dependent on external things.

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. It is the finest insurance against old age, against the growth of physical disability, of the lack and loss of animal delights.

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

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].

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.

Never try to outsmart a woman, unless you are another woman.

Being educated means to prefer the best not only to the worst but to the second best.

Real happiness is not dependent on external things. The pond is fed from within. The kind of happiness that stays with you is the happiness that springs from inward thoughts and emotions. You must cultivate your mind if you wish to achieve enduring happiness.