Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we
are moving; 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 Jr.

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother’s secret hope outlives them
all.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are
going.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine on it, the more it will
contract.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

If a man hasn’t got plenty of good common sense, the more science he has the worse for his
patient.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Men do not quit playing because they grow old – they grow old because they quit playing.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

To be 70 years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be 40 years old.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

A page of history is worth a pound of logic.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Free competition is worth more to society than it costs.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

As life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and
action of his time, at the peril of being judged not to have lived.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we
loathe.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The riders in a race do not stop short when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing
canter before they come to a standstill… The canter that brings you to a standstill need not
be only coming to rest. It cannot be while you still live.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.