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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."

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

History

All Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Education

“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

“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

“Nature, when she invented, manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Nature

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Knowledge

“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 advice of the elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Best

“Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Imagination

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Music

“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

Good

“Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Art

“It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Faith

“Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Happiness

“If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Freedom

“If I were dying my last words would be: Have faith and pursue the unknown end.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Faith

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Money

“Don't you stay at home of evenings? Don't you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Home

“Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

“The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Religion

“Sweet is the scene where genial friendship plays the pleasing game of interchanging praise.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship