Quotes by William Lyon Phelps

About William Lyon Phelps:

William Lyon Phelps was an American author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American university course on the modern novel. He was a well-known speaker who drew large crowds. He had a radio show, wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, lectured frequently, and published numerous popular books and articles.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

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

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

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.

William Lyon Phelps

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

William Lyon Phelps

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

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

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

William Lyon Phelps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William Lyon Phelps

Author Bio

  • NameWilliam Lyon Phelps
  • DescriptionAmerican author, critic and scholar
  • BornJanuary 2, 1865
  • DiedAugust 21, 1943
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter