Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that were not so. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Animal Copy Share Image
The minute a phrase, becomes current, it becomes an apology for not thinking accurately to the end of the sentence. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Apology Copy Share Image
Where we stand is not as important as the direction in which we are moving. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Direction Copy Share Image
The noblest service comes from nameless hands; and the best servant does his work unseen. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Discouragement Copy Share Image
The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Experience Copy Share Image
People talk fundamentals and superlatives and then make some changes of detail. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Who does not feel that Nansen's account of his search for the Pole rather loses than gains in ideal satisfaction by the… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
In order to know whether a human being is young or old, offer it food of different kinds at short intervals. If… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy - I don't disparage envy, but… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Men are tattooed with their special beliefs like so many South Sea Islanders; but a real human heart with divine love in… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
The wind blows out, the bubble dies; The spring entomb'd in autumn lies; The dew dries up; the star is shot; The… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Autumn Copy Share Image
There is nothing earthly that lasts so well, as money. A man's learning dies with him, as does his virtues fade out… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Children Copy Share Image
Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Burden Copy Share Image
The great end of being is to harmonize man with the order of things, and the church has been a good pitch-pipe,… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Church Copy Share Image
Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
To think great thoughts you must be heroes as well as idealists. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Hero Copy Share Image
Our test of truth is a reference to either a present or imagined future majority in favour of our view. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Belief Copy Share Image
It seems to me that at this time we need education in the obvious more than the investigation of the obscure. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Education Copy Share Image
Apologizing - a very desperate habit - one that is rarely cured. Apology is only egotism wrong side out. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Reason may be the lever, but sentiment gives you the fulcrum and the place to stand on if you want to move… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Fulcrum Copy Share Image
The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Character Copy Share Image
There are three natural anaesthetics: Sleep, fainting, and death. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Beauty Copy Share Image
If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Knowledge and timber shouldn't be much used till they are seasoned. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Aging Copy Share Image
Old age is like an opium dream. Nothing seems real except the unreal. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Age Copy Share Image
The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
It is perfectly easy to be original by violating the laws of decency and the canons of good taste. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Canon Copy Share Image
To an imagination of any scope the most far reaching form of power is not money, it is the command of ideas — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the center of each and every town or city. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Men must turn square corners when they deal with the Government. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
To rest upon a formula is a slumber that, prolonged, means death. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Death Copy Share Image
A new and valid idea is worth more than a regiment and fewer men can furnish the former than command the latter. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Young man, the secret of my success is that at early age I discovered that I was not God. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Age Copy Share Image
The mark of a civilized man is his willingness to re-examine his most cherished beliefs. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Belief Copy Share Image
A good soldier, like a good horse, cannot be of a bad color. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Color Copy Share Image
The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power. The prize of the general is not a bigger tent, but… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Power Copy Share Image
