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Oliver Wendell Holmes

41 quotes

The quotes of Oliver Wendell Holmes have been shared, printed, and passed along for good reason. Whether reflecting on Truth or Friendship, Oliver Wendell Holmes brought uncommon clarity to every subject. Explore 52 quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes on subjects including Truth, Friendship, Wisdom, Science, and Nature — each one a window into a distinctive way of seeing the world. Readers often gravitate to this one: "The Amen of nature is always a flower."

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Truth

All Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Beauty

“A new untruth is better than an old truth.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Truth

“Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Home

“I hate facts. I always say the chief end of man is to form general propositions - adding that no general proposition is worth a damn.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Science

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Wisdom

“Have the courage to act instead of react.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Courage

“Rough work, iconoclasm, but the only way to get at truth.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Truth

“Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Science

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Great

“The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Education

“It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Knowledge

“Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Money

“The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Great

“But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

“Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Truth

“I won't accept anything less than the best a player's capable of doing... and he has the right to expect the best that I can do for him and the team!”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Best

“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

Truth

“Controversy equalizes fools and wise men - and the fools know it.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Men

“Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

History