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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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