Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. quotes - page 3

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, poet, and essayist, renowned for his wit and literary talent. A leading figure in Boston’s literary circles, he made significant contributions to medicine and literature. He helped popularize the “Breakfast-Table” series and influenced American culture in the 19th century. Here are 104 of his quotes:

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Stillness of person and steadiness of features are signal marks of good breeding.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A child's education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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, Sr.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Every event that a man would master must be mounted on the run, and no man ever caught the reins of a thought except as it galloped past him.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A goose flies by a chart which the Royal Geographical Society could not mend.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A woman never forgets her sex. She would rather talk with a man than an angel, any day.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse. One comfort we have - Cincinnati sounds worse.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground-floor. But if a man hasn't got plenty of good common sense, the more science he has, the worse for his patient.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

For there we loved, and where we love is home, Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts, Though o'er us shine the jasper-lighted dome:-- The chain may lengthen, but it never parts!

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Lord of all being, thronèd afar, Thy glory flames from sun and star; Center and soul of every sphere, Yet to each loving heart how near! Sun of our life, Thy quickening ray, Sheds on our path the glow of day; Star of our hope, Thy softened light Cheers the long watches of the night.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Storms, thunders, waves! Howl, crash, and bellow till ye get your fill; Ye sometimes rest; men never can be still But in their graves.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I would never use a long word, even, where a short one would answer the purpose. I know there are professors in this country who 'ligate' arteries. Other surgeons only tie them, and it stops the bleeding just as well.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

If we are only as the potter's clay Made to be fashioned as the artist wills, And broken into shards if we offend The eye of Him who made us, it is well.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Thou say'st an undisputed thing In such a solemn way.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

And since, I never dare to write As funny as I can.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.