Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

A few can touch the magic string, and noisy fame is proud to win them: Alas for those that never sing, but die with all their music in them!

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Beware how you take away hope from another human being.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Civilization is the process of reducing the infinite to the finite.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way – and the fools know it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Do not be bullied out of your common sense by the specialist; two to one, he is a pedant.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.