Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Quotes

Most persons have died before they expire,--died to all earthly longings, so that the last breath is only, as it were, the locking of the door of the already deserted mansion. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. What a blessed thing it is, that Nature, when she invented, manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left! ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. You don't know, perhaps, but I will tell you; the brain is the palest of all the internal organs, and the heart the reddest. Whatever comes from the brain carries the hue of the place it came from, and whatever comes from the heart carries the heat and color of its birthplace. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Why can't somebody give us a list of things that everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of things that everybody says and nobody thinks? ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Leverage is everything,--was what I used to say;--don't begin to pry till you have got the long arm on your side. ~ Elsie Venner by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Beliefs must be lived in for a good while, before they accommodate themselves to the soul's wants, and wear loose enough to be comfortable. ~ Elsie Venner by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves that necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded. ~ Elsie Venner by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.