People talk fundamentals and superlatives and then make some changes of detail.

Quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Topics: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr Quotes

Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that...

Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that...

A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles.

A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles.

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.

A new and valid idea is worth more than a regiment and fewer men can...

A new and valid idea is worth more than a regiment and fewer men can...

On the whole, I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirms the worth...

On the whole, I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirms the worth...

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you...

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you...

Young man, the secret of my success is that an early age I discovered that...

Young man, the secret of my success is that an early age I discovered that...

Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours.

Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours.

You make me chuckle when you say that you are no longer young, that you...

You make me chuckle when you say that you are no longer young, that you...

To be seventy years young is sometimes for more cheerful and hopeful than to be...

To be seventy years young is sometimes for more cheerful and hopeful than to be...

There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no...

There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no...

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light...

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light...

Carve every word before you let it fall.

Carve every word before you let it fall.

Life is action and passion; therefore, it is required of a man that he should...

Life is action and passion; therefore, it is required of a man that he should...

The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power.

The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power.

This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.

This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.

I despise making the most of one's time. Half of the pleasures of life consist...

I despise making the most of one's time. Half of the pleasures of life consist...

The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to me all one.

The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to me all one.

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a...

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a...

Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.

Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.