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

Phelps contrasts two supposed “schools” of human nature: the modern metropolis (New York, shorthand for worldly experience, ambition, and social variety) and the Bible (a compendium of narratives, motives, moral failures, and ethical ideals). The point is not that city life teaches nothing, but that Scripture—through its concentrated portrayal of jealousy, power, betrayal, love, repentance, and community—offers a deeper, more enduring anatomy of character than everyday observation. The remark also reflects an early-20th-century humanistic defense of biblical literacy: even for readers approaching it as literature rather than doctrine, the Bible functions as a foundational text for understanding human behavior and moral psychology.