Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes
The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.
I firmly believe that if the whole material medical could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worse for the sea.
Men must turn square corners when they deal with the Government.
Life is action and passion therefore, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of the time, at peril of being judged not to have lived.
Man has his will, - but woman had her way.
Knowledge and timber shouldn't be much used till they are seasoned.
Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.
Civilization is the process of reducing the infinite to the finite.
Controversy equalizes fools and wise men - and the fools know it.
Consciously or unconsciously we all strive to make the kind of a world we like.
But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.
Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension.
Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer.
Man has his will - but woman has her way.
It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.
What a comfort a dull but kindly person is, to be sure, at times! A ground-glass shade over a gas-lamp does not bring more solace to our dazzled eyes than such a one to our minds.
Life is a fatal complaint, and an eminently contagious one.
I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.
This is an inquisitive age, and if we insist on piling up beyond a certain height knowledge which is in itself mere trash and lumber to a man whose life is to be one long fight with death and disease, there will be some sharp questions asked by and by.
Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.
The greatest act of faith is when a man understands he is not God.
I despise making the most of one's time. Half of the pleasures of life consist of the opportunities one has neglected.
What I call a good patient is one who, having found a good physician, sticks to him till he dies.
Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if it has common sense on the ground floor.
Youth fades love droops, the leaves of friendship fall A mother's secret hope outlives them all.
