Phillip Calvin McGraw, or Dr. Phil as we all know him, was born in Oklahoma in 1950. Dr. Phil attended University of Tulsa in Oklahoma on a football scholarship originally but changed his career to psychology after he got injured and could no longer play football. He transferred to Witchita Falls, Texas and earned a B.A. in 1975. It wasn’t until after he earned a doctorate and his master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of North Texas that he started his career as psychologist. Phillip’s father was a psychologist as well, together with another person they formed a company that hosted seminars involving life-skills and self-motivation throughout the United States.
In 1989, Dr. Phil and a lawyer friend of his started Courtroom Sciences, Inc, which was a firm that offered mediation services for lawyers, mock trials, and jury selections. It was this firm that guided the lawyers in the Exxon Valdez oil-spill trial to victory, and that is where they gained national attention. Oprah Winfrey used the services of Courtroom Sciences, Inc and also came out of the courtroom victorious when she was being sued by a Texas Cattleman for defamation in 1996.
After Dr. Phil helped Winfrey with her trial, she was thankful and invited him to appear on her show. Viewers loved him on her show and she made him a part of the show at first calling him ‘Tell It like It Is Phil’, then making him have a weekly appearance on her show with the title ‘Tuesdays with Dr. Phil’. Finally in 2002, Dr. Phil started his own show that was produced by Winfrey’s Harpo Studios. The show was obviously a big success, but aside from the show Phillip also wrote several best selling books.
Dr. Phil Quotes
“If someone out there doesn’t agree with me, then somewhere a village is missing their idiot.” – Dr. Phil
“When you allow a person’s words to upset you, you’re giving away your power.” – Phil McGraw, ‘Dr. Phil Getting Real’
“You can’t put feathers on a dog and call it a chicken!” – Phil McGraw
“It’s better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else.” – Phil McGraw
“When you get married, your loyalty, first and foremost, is to your spouse, and to the family that you create together.” – Dr. Phil
“No dog ever peed on a moving car.” – Dr. Phil
“People have the right to think and say whatever they want to. But you have the right not to take it to heart, and not to react.” – Phil McGraw, ‘Dr. Phil Getting Real’
“In life you have three options with any situation that is a challenge. Remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it.” – Phil McGraw
“You’re only lonely if you’re not there for you.” – Phil McGraw
“I think you’re running into a lot of trouble if your idea of foreplay is, ‘Brace yourself, honey, here I come!’” – Dr. Phil
“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” – Phillip C. McGraw
“Eighty percent of all choices are based on fear. Most people don’t choose what they want; they choose what they think is safe.” – Phil McGraw
“There’s a big difference between falling in love and being in love. There’s a big difference between infatuation and falling in love.” – Phil McGraw
“Relationships are negotiated, and if you deal with ultimatums and authority all the time, then you’re not going to get anywhere.” – Dr. Phil
“Opinions are like *sses, everybody’s got one!” – Dr. Phil
“At the end of the day, whether or not those people are comfortable with how you’re living your life doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you’re comfortable with it.” – Phillip C. McGraw
“Instead of being ashamed of what you’ve been through, be proud of what you have overcome!” – Phil McGraw
“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.” – Phil McGraw
“If you’ve gone into a marriage and you haven’t been clear about how you’re going to handle money, how you want to raise kids, who is going to work or stay home, or what have you, then you’ve set yourself up for failure.” – Dr. Phil
“You need to marry yo’ baby mama.” – Dr. Phil to David Letterman when he announced he was having a baby
“Take the high road, there’s a lot less traffic up there.” – Phillip C. McGraw, ‘Life Code: The New Rules For Winning in the Real World’
“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.” – Phil McGraw
“I mean, if you degrade someone, you isolate them, you control them, you call them names, you demean them. That’s a horrible existence for people.” – Phil McGraw
“There is nothing wrong with your marriage if you’re dealing with bills and kids and the broken garbage disposal and in-laws and work demands. That’s a normal marriage.” – Dr. Phil
“Your feelings? To h*ll with your feelings!” – Dr. Phil
“The truth doesn’t have versions, it just is.” – Phillip C. McGraw, ‘Life Code: The New Rules For Winning in the Real World’
“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.” – Phil McGraw
“I mean, look, teachers don’t do their job for the money, obviously, because we pay them ridiculously little amounts for what they put in. Most of them come out of their own pocket for materials and things to help the children and all that.” – Phil McGraw
“You need to listen to your body because your body is listening to you.” – Dr. Phil
“That dog don’t hunt.” – Dr. Phil
“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.” – Phillip C. McGraw
“Anyone can do something when they want to do it. Really successful people do things when they don’t want to do it.” – Phil McGraw
“You have got to decide, look, this is who I am; this is my best way to present myself, and I’m going to ride that horse to the finish line. Not everybody will like it, but that’s OK.” – Phil McGraw
“It’s so much easier to tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.” – Dr. Phil
“Don’t make me put your head in my blender!” – Dr. Phil
“You have to name it to claim it.” – Dr. Phil
“It’s hard to see your own face without a mirror.” – Phil McGraw
“I’m embarrassed every time I look a teacher in the eye, because we ask them to do so much for so little.” – Phil McGraw
“Nothing’s funnier to me than laughing at myself.” – Dr. Phil
“A man can’t ‘just be friends’ with another woman. Period.” – Dr. Phil
“If emotional pain or problems have cropped up in your life, you must insist on getting closure. Closure means you don’t carry the problem or the pain. You address the issue, then you slam shut the book and put it away.” – Dr. Phil McGraw, ‘The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom’
“Change can come in either of two important ways: Start behaving positively or stop behaving negatively.” – Phil McGraw
“Every one of us have things that we believe about ourselves when nobody else is looking, nobody else is listening, nobody else is monitoring what we’re doing. We believe things about ourself.” – Phil McGraw
“Don’t wait until you’re in a crisis to come up with a crisis plan.” – Dr. Phil
“This ain’t my first rodeo son!” – Dr. Phil
“Drama and crisis are currency to them because they love the power to make people react. They thrive on a good fight, a good scandal, a good drama.” – Phillip C. McGraw, ‘Life Code’
“The difference between winners and losers is that winners do things losers don’t want to do.” – Phil McGraw
“If your neighbor has a completely different view on abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, all of those things, you still are both Americans. Neither one of you is necessarily more patriotic than the other. Neither loves their country any more than the other one does.” – Phil McGraw
“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.” – Dr. Phil
“No matter how flat you make a pancake it’s got two sides!!” – Dr. Phil
“It is just good practice to do a situational scan and have situational awareness when you are out in the world.” – Phillip C. McGraw, ‘Life Code’
“People have the right to think and say whatever they want to. But you have the right not to take it to heart, and not to react.” – Phil McGraw
Video – Dr. Phil Best Moments of All Time
If you like Dr. Phil, you will love this video. It is a montage of the very best, craziest, funniest and wackiest moments.
Summary
It’s interesting to know that the well-loved psychologist originally attended college because of an athletic scholarship, but changed his career goals to being a psychologist like his father. You may not be a fan of the ‘Dr. Phil’ show, or you may be a huge fan of it, but either way you can’t say that he hasn’t touched a soul with his caring but blunt ways.
Some of these quotes might be inspirational to you, some of them might educate you a little, and some of them may be a little humorous. In any case, you can use these quotes to send or share with others or for yourself.
Image Credit: “Dr. Phil in Jacksonville” by minds-eye is licensed underCC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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