Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Quotes

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Profession : Writer

Birth : August 29, 1809

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way - and the fools know it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Fresh air is good if you do not take too much of it; most of the achievements and pleasures of life are in bad air.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A woman never forgets her sex. She would rather talk with a man than an angel, any day.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A great calamity is as old as the trilobites an hour after it has happened.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A child's education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Truth, when not sought after, rarely comes to light.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.