Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

    The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)

    He took the paper, and I watched,
    And saw him peep within;
    At the first line he read, his face
    Was all upon the grin.
    —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)

    Unpretending mediocrity is good, and genius is glorious; but a weak flavor of genius in an essentially common person is detestable. It spoils the grand neutrality of a commonplace character, as the rinsings of an unwashed wine-glass spoil a draught of fair water.
    —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)