Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

    The fourth; he broke into a roar;
    The fifth; his waistband split;
    The sixth; he burst five buttons off,
    And tumbled in a fit.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    It was a tall young oysterman lived by the river-side,
    His shop was just upon the bank, his boat was on the tide;
    The daughter of a fisherman, that was so straight and slim,
    Lived over on the other bank, right opposite to him.
    —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    People that make puns are like wanton boys that put coppers on the railroad tracks. They amuse themselves and other children but their little trick may upset a freight train of conversation for the sake of a battered witticism.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    My grandmother stood among her kettles and ladles.
    Smiling, in faulty grammar,
    She praised my fortune and urged my lofty career.
    So to please her I studied—but I will remember always
    How she poured confusion out, how she cooled and labeled
    All the wild sauces of the brimming year.
    —Mary Oliver (b. 1935)

    Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.
    —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)