OWOliver Wendell Holmes

148 collected words

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Born 1809 AD; death year unknown

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

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Quotations and sayings

01c. 1809 AD

Every year if not every day we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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02c. 1809 AD

The longing for certainty ... is in every human mind. But certainty is generally illusion.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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03c. 1809 AD

Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cock-sure of many things that were not so.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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04c. 1809 AD

When in doubt do it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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05c. 1809 AD

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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06c. 1809 AD

A sense of wrongdoing is an enhancement of pleasure.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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07c. 1809 AD

A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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08c. 1809 AD

The life of the law has not been logic it has been experience.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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09c. 1809 AD

Faith as an intellectual state is self-reliance.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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10c. 1809 AD

Faith implies the disbelief of a lesser fact in favor of a greater.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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11c. 1809 AD

The great act of faith is when a man decides that he is not God.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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12c. 1809 AD

Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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13c. 1809 AD

Certainty generally is illusion and repose is not the destiny of man.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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14c. 1809 AD

The man who thinks his wife his baby his house his horse his dog and himself severely unequalled is almost sure to be a good-humored person.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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15c. 1809 AD

Grateful for the blessing lent of simple tastes and mind content!

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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16c. 1809 AD

Friendship is the pleasing game of interchanging praise.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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17c. 1809 AD

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 / quote

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18c. 1809 AD

Except in cases of necessity which are rare leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies they are ready enough to tell him.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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19c. 1809 AD

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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20c. 1809 AD

Life is an end in itself and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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21c. 1809 AD

One unquestioned text we read All doubt beyond all fear above Nor crackling pile nor cursing creed Can burn or blot it: God is Love.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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22c. 1809 AD

Life is a romantic business but you have to make the romance.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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23c. 1809 AD

Heredity is an omnibus in which all our ancestors ride and every now and then one of them puts his head out and embarrasses us.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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24c. 1809 AD

A man is a kind of inverted thermometer the bulb uppermost and the column of self-valuation is all the time going up and down.

Oliver Wendell Holmes / quote

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