The man of action has the present, but the thinker controls the future. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Action Copy Share Image
Nothing can be so perfect while we possess it as it will seem when remembered. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Memories 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
A good soldier, like a good horse, cannot be of a bad color. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Color Copy Share Image
Success. Is not the position where you are standing, but which direction you are going. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Direction Copy Share Image
Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Armed forces Copy Share Image
Pretty much all law consists in forbidding men to do something that they want to do. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Law Copy Share Image
Certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Certainty Copy Share Image
Any new formula which suddenly emerges in our consciousness has its roots in long trains of thought; it is virtually old when… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
There is in all men a demand for the superlative, so much so that the poor devil that has no other way… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Demand Copy Share Image
Reason means truth and those who are not governed by it take the chance that someday the sunken fact will rip the… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
It is very grand to die in harness, but it is very pleasant to have the tight straps unbuckled and the heavy… — 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 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
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
Research and writing are lonely occupations. It is easy to become discouraged in solitary confinement. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Confinement Copy Share Image
The very minute a thought is threatened with publicity it seems to shrink towards mediocrity. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Ideas 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
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
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
Deep-seated preferences cannot be argued about-you cannot argue a man into liking a glass of beer. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Advice Copy Share Image
Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Compassion Copy Share Image
Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
If you can eat sawdust without butter, you can be a success in the law. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Food Copy Share Image
If I were dying, my last words would be: Have faith and pursue the unknown end. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Death Copy Share Image
Leisure only means a chance to do other jobs that demand attention. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Attention Copy Share Image
Young man, the secret of my success is that an early age I discovered that I was not God. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Age Copy Share Image
There is a little plant called reverence in the corner of my soul's garden, which I love to have watered once a… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
I have always sought to guide the future-but it is very lonely sometimes trying to play God. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Future 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
Science ... in other words, knowledge-is not the enemy of religion; for, if so, then religion would mean ignorance. But it is… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Antagonist Copy Share Image
Even the wisest woman you talk to is ignorant of something you may know, but an elegant woman never forgets her elegance. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Beauty Copy Share Image
On the whole, I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirms the worth of life as an end in itself,… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
Knowledge-it excites prejudices to call it science-is advancing as irresistibly, as majestically, as remorselessly as the ocean moves in upon the shore. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr Copy Share Image
