Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Quotes

Now habit is a labor-saving invention which enables a man to get along with less fuel,--that is all; for fuel is force. ~ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. I try his head occasionally as housewives try eggs,-- give it an intellectual shake and hold it up to the light, so to speak, to see if it has life in it, actual or potential, or only contains lifeless albumen. ~ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Don't ever think the poetry is dead in an old man because his forehead is wrinkled, or that his manhood has left him when his hand trembles! If they ever WERE there, they ARE there still! ~ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Even in common people, conceit has the virtue of making them cheerful; the man who thinks his wife, his baby, his house, his horse, his dog, and himself severally unequalled, is almost sure to be a good-humored person, though liable to be tedious at times. ~ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don't make it of wood, you must make it of words. ~ The Poet at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. ~ The Poet at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Knowledge--it excites prejudices to call it science--is advancing as irresistibly, as majestically, as remorselessly as the ocean moves in upon the shore. ~ The Poet at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. "Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground-floor." ~ The Poet at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. I talk half the time to find out my own thoughts, as a school-boy turns his pockets inside out to see what is in them. One brings to light all sorts of personal property he had forgotten in his inventory. ~ The Poet at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Nobody talks much that doesn't say unwise things,--things he did not mean to say; as no person plays much without striking a false note sometimes. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.