Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Top 10 Quotes

Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Quoted in The Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1863)

Death tugs at my ear and says, 'Live. I am coming.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Truth, when not sought after, rarely comes to light. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Many people die with their music still in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it time runs out.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Quoted in The Reader's Digest - Vol. 87, 1965)

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Professor at the Breakfast Table, 1859)

It is by little things that we know ourselves.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, 1858)

I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, 1858)

Every calling is great when greatly pursued.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Speech - The Law, 1885)

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Professor at the Breakfast Table, 1859)