Oliver Wendell Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes was the name of two prominent men, father and son:...
Grow we must, if we outgrow all that loves us.
calamity disaster great
A great calamity is as old as the trilobites an hour after it has happened.
age-and-aging men playing
Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.
We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing.
enthusiasm faith life looking quote-of-the-day worth
It is faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth looking at.
original stretched
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
allow beasts brute commonly company convenient decent fact facts fellows generous horror ingenious lead minds pleasant ready slip
All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called ''facts.'' They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain. Who does not know fellows that always have an ill-conditioned fact or two that they lead after them into decent company like so many bull-dogs, ready to let them slip at every ingenious suggestion, or convenient generalization, or pleasant fancy? I allow no ''facts'' at this table.
action actions claims commit man men power required sin special utilize within
You commit a sin of omission if you do not utilize all the power that is within you. All men have claims on man, and to the man with special talents, this is a very special claim. It is required that a man take part in the actions and clashes of his
adversity bad capacity creates embrace formula handle meet pass speaking terms treating trouble
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.
arm bent fools height hold men paradox size stand water wise
the hydrostatic paradox of controversy. Don't you know what that means? Well, I will tell you. You know that, if you had a bent tube, one arm of which was of the size of a pipe-stem, and the other big enough to hold the ocean, water would stand at the same height in one as in the other. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way. And the fools know it.
arm bent fools height hold men paradox size stand water wise
... the hydrostatic paradox of controversy. Don't you know what that means? Well, I will tell you. You know that, if you had a bent tube, one arm of which was of the size of a pipe-stem, and the other big enough to hold the ocean, water would stand at the same height in one as in the other. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way. And the fools know it.
america failure fully graves greatest human means men music natural resources though tragedy truly utilize women
The greatest tragedy in America is not the destruction of our natural resources, though that tragedy is great. The truly great tragedy is the destruction of our human resources by our failure to fully utilize our abilities, which means that most men and women go to their graves with their music still in them.
direction great vision
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.
age age-and-aging good increases resemble tone true woman worth
A good and true woman is said to resemble a Cremona fiddle: age but increases its worth and sweetens its tone