| | |

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. quotes

English (91) Français (59)

edits filters view all 91 quotes

“Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“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., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“The Amen! of Nature is always a flower.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“They also serve who only stand and wait.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Over the Teacups
“Knowledge and timber shouldn't be much used, till they are seasoned.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“A weak mind does not accumulate force enough to hurt itself; stupidity often saves a man from going mad.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“You can hire logic, in the shape of a lawyer, to prove anything that you want to prove.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“In fact, there's nothing that keeps its youth, So far as I know, but a tree and truth.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Language!—the blood of the soul, Sir! into which our thoughts run and out of which they grow!” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table
“What refuge is there for the victim who is oppressed with the feeling that there are a thousand new books he ought to read, while life is only long enough for him to attempt to read a hundred?” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Over the Teacups
“Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Every person's feelings have a front-door and a side-door by which they may be entered.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Over the Teacups
“Memory is a net; one finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook; but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“It was that of the mind of a bigot to the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour on it, the more it contracts.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“But I can't help remembering that the world's great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor its great scholars great men.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table
“But this is only the sentimental side of the matter; for grow we must, if we outgrow all that we love.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“When I think of talking, it is of course with a woman. For talking at its best being an inspiration, it wants a corresponding divine quality of receptiveness; and where will you find this but in woman?” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table
“If you mean to keep as well as possible, the less you think about your health the better.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Over the Teacups
“The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“A great calamity, for instance, is as old as the trilobites an hour after it has happened.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth looking at.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table
“The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“Poetry uses the rainbow tints for special effects, but always keeps its essential object in the purest white light of truth.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

view all 91 quotes

Related topics

age truth mind thought logic growth lie sin knowledge madness women love insanity reality stupidity nature language money reading youth

Related sources

The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (23)
The Poet at the Breakfast-Table (2)
Over the Teacups (4)
The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (2)