Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

“How many people live on the reputation of the reputation they might have made!”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

“Speak clearly, if you speak at all;
Carve every word before you let it fall.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

“The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand
The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.”
—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)