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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."

“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

All Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes

“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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Happiness

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

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

— 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

“A few can touch the magic string, and noisy fame is proud to win them: Alas for those that never sing, but die with all their music in them!”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Music

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Faith

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Faith

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Education

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

“Beware how you take away hope from another human being.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hope

“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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Truth

“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 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

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

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Friendship

“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

“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

“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

“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