Oliver Wendell Holmes

Famous quotes containing the words oliver wendell holmes, wendell holmes, oliver wendell, oliver and/or wendell:

    A great calamity ... is as old as the trilobites an hour after it has happened.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    Writing or printing is like shooting with a rifle; you may hit your reader’s mind, or miss it;Mbut talking is like playing at a mark with the pipe of an engine; if it is within reach, and you have time enough, you can’t help hitting it.
    —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    Life and language are alike sacred. Homicide and verbicide—that is, violent treatment of a word with fatal results to its legitimate meaning, which is its life—are alike forbidden.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    And he had an ethical bypass at birth.
    Stanley Weiser, U.S. screenwriter, and Oliver Stone. Marvin (John C. McGinley)

    Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
    That was built in such a logical way
    It ran a hundred years to a day,
    —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)