Phil McGraw Quotes

It's hard to see your own face without a mirror.

If I was on the air and was just kind of a plain-vanilla personality that took the safe road and the safe way trying to please all of the people all of the time, I'd been gone in two weeks.

I grew up in athletics, where people keep score.

A lot of people do have tragic childhoods. But you know what? Get over it.

Well, I'm not sure what pop psychology is, but I don't like it.

Willpower is a myth. The problem with trying to use willpower to achieve and sustain a behavioral change is that it is fueled by emotion. And as we all know, our emotions are, at best, fickle. They come and go. When your emotions start running down -- and they will -- even your best-laid plans will fall flat.

People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. You should be an open book, be transparent.

Don't wait until you're in a crisis to come up with a crisis plan.

It's better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else.

Men fall in love with their eyes. Women fall in love with their ears.

If you don't have a plan, days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, months turn into years, and before you know it you're looking back saying, I should've had a plan.

Food is a coping mechanism; people are afraid of giving it up because then they'll feel confused and lost.

You must demand nothing less than the best of yourself and for yourself. You must tell yourself that it is not wrong to want it all.

There has never been a merging of two lives where significant problems of daily living did not occur. One way or another, your relationship is going to be affected. The only question is how. There's a big difference between knowing and doing. It's not what happens between partners that determines the outcome of a relationship, it's how they handle what happens. If all you deal with in your relationship is problems, then you will have a problem relationship. If you want your pound of flesh with full acknowledgement that you're right, your future will be dim.

If you're trying to get out of debt, you have to be willing to treat everything as expendable.

Leaders inspire. They aren't assigned leadership. They command it.

When you get married, your loyalty, first and foremost, is to your spouse, and to the family that you create together.

Grief is a process to go through, not a destination in which to wallow. In a process, you keep putting one foot in front of the other, and each little step is part of your healing.

Stand up and walk out of your history

You get what you ask for in this life. If you ask for nothing, you get nothing.

You need to listen to your body because your body is listening to you.

I've talked to so many people, men and women alike, that get overweight and their self-esteem just goes in the tank. They think they're judged. They think they're unattractive.

People say time heals all wounds. Let me tell you, time heals nothing. You can do the wrong thing for 10 years and it doesn't equal the right thing for one day.

Like an enemy I knew as intimately as any friend, I came to know the nagging, constant emptiness of the incongruent life. I ignored myself and lived for people, purposes, and goals that weren't my own. I betrayed who I was and instead accepted a fictional substitute that was defined from the outside in.

We all have a social mask, right? We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image. But behind that social mask is a personal truth, what we really, really believe about who we are and what we're capable of.

If what you're doing isn't working, change it.

There is an interconnectedness among members that bonds the family, much like mountain climbers who rope themselves together when climbing a mountain, so that if someone should slip or need support, he's held up by the others until he regains his footing.

Most choices are driven by immediate results.

I tell you, if you're in the front row of the parade and you stop walking, pretty soon you're back in the tuba section. And if you want to lead the parade you've got to keep moving.

You know, what we do know is that there is a high frequency of violence in the home of those who bully.

Do you realize that you can't play the game of life with sweaty palms?

I'm one of those that believes you can't be one kind of a man and another kind of president.

Happiness isn't a one-size-fits-all proposition. You must define what it looks like for you and then make a conscious effort to access whatever gets you to your unique definition of joy.

I've learned a tremendous amount from Oprah.

Awareness without action is worthless.

Anger is nothing more than an outward expression of hurt, fear and frustration

You have to name it to claim it

Champions get what they want because they know what they want. They have a vision that keeps them motivated and efficiently on track. They see it, feel it, and experience it in their minds and hearts. What is success for you? You won't get there without knowing what it feels and looks like.

There is no reality, only perception.

Everybody should have the opportunity to do and be everything they can be.

We are proud to have a platform through the Dr Phil show and the Dr. Phil Foundation to offer children the voice they need to meet their goals in having a better life.

At this very moment, you may be saying to yourself that you have any number of admirable qualities. You are a loyal friend, a caring person, someone who is smart, dependable, fun to be around. That's wonderful, and I'm happy for you, but let me ask you this: are you being any of those things to yourself?

Instead of being ashamed of what you've been through, be proud of what you have overcome!

Take it from a guy: If you're in love with somebody, you will swim the stream, you will climb the mountain, you will slay the dragon. You're going to get to her somehow, some way.

Eighty percent of all questions are statements in disguise.

Relationships are negotiated and if you deal with ultimatums and authority all the time, then you're not going to get anywhere.

The Internet is just bringing all kinds of information into the home. There's just a lot of distraction, a lot of competition for the parent's voice to resonate in the children's ears.

You cannot be who and what you are unless you have a lifestyle, both internally and externally, that is designed to support that definition of self.