We derive upper bounds on the statistics of phase and phase difference that are satisfied by all classical states. They are obtained by finding the maximum projection of classical states on phase states. For a single-mode phase, meaningful bounds are obtained conditioned to a fixed mean number of photons. We also derive classical bounds for the projection on phase-coherent states, discussing their relation with phase-state bounds within the context of analytic representations. We find states

more »

... h nonclassical phase properties disclosed by the violation of these classical bounds. These are quadrature and SU(2) squeezed states and phase-coherent states.