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.

Quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Topics: Oliver Wendell Holmes Quotes

Happiness consists in activity. It is running steam, not a stagnant pool.

Happiness consists in activity. It is running steam, not a stagnant pool.

There are a good many real miseries in life that we cannot help smiling at,...

There are a good many real miseries in life that we cannot help smiling at,...

[I]t is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that...

[I]t is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that...

Man has will, but woman has her way.

Man has will, but woman has her way.

The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal...

The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal...

To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.

Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has...

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has...

Don't be consistent but be simple true.

Don't be consistent but be simple true.

Knowledge like timber shouldn't be mush use till they are seasoned.

Knowledge like timber shouldn't be mush use till they are seasoned.

Laughter and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same machinery of sensibility;...

Laughter and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same machinery of sensibility;...

If truth were not often suggested by error, if old implements could not be adjusted...

If truth were not often suggested by error, if old implements could not be adjusted...

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtaxed.

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtaxed.

Alas for those that never sing, but die with all their music in them.

Alas for those that never sing, but die with all their music in them.

Fresh air is good if you do not take too much of it; most of...

Fresh air is good if you do not take too much of it; most of...

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often...

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often...

Grow we must, if we outgrow all that loves us.

Grow we must, if we outgrow all that loves us.

Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.

Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.

Apology is only egotism wrong side out.

Apology is only egotism wrong side out.

A goose flies by a chart which the Royal Geographical Society could not mend.

A goose flies by a chart which the Royal Geographical Society could not mend.