Austin Phelps

Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others.

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.

Failure is no accident.

A man is as old as his arteries.

We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.

Hard knocks have a place and value, but hard thinking goes farther in less time.

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left.

Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath.

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

Life experiences, mental illness, drugs, greed, environment, and poor role-modeling can all forge damaged people and can generate a darkness, an exploitiveness, in the way they approach life. Whatever their genesis, there are people in your life (and mine) who will hurt you if you let them.

Despite everybody who has been born and has died, the world has just gone on. I mean, look at Napoleon – but we went right on. Look at Harpo Marx –the world went around, it didn’t stop for a second. It’s sad but true. John Kennedy, right?