Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The great act of faith is when a man decides that he is not God.

Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.

Certainty generally is illusion and repose is not the destiny of man.

The man who thinks his wife his baby his house his horse his dog and himself severely unequalled is almost sure to be a good-humored person.

Grateful for the blessing lent of simple tastes and mind content!

Friendship is the pleasing game of interchanging praise.

Dont flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.

Except in cases of necessity which are rare leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies they are ready enough to tell him.

Without wearing any mask we are conscious of we have a special face for each friend.

Life is an end in itself and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it.

One unquestioned text we read All doubt beyond all fear above Nor crackling pile nor cursing creed Can burn or blot it: God is Love.

Life is a romantic business but you have to make the romance.

Heredity is an omnibus in which all our ancestors ride and every now and then one of them puts his head out and embarrasses us.

A man is a kind of inverted thermometer the bulb uppermost and the column of self-valuation is all the time going up and down.

Youth fades love droops the leaves of friendship fall A mothers secret hope outlives them all.

Mans mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.

A weak mind does not accumulate force enough to hurt itself stupidity often saves a man from going mad.

Systems die instincts remain.

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

Law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race.