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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."

“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

All Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes

“The Amen of nature is always a flower.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Nature

“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

“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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Imagination

“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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Education

“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

“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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Beauty

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Great

“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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Wisdom

“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 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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

“Men do not quit playing because they grow old they grow old because they quit playing.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Men

“A pun does not commonly justify a blow in return. But if a blow were given for such cause, and death ensued, the jury would be judges both of the facts and of the pun, and might, if the latter were of an aggravated character, return a verdict of justifiable homicide.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Death