Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Quotes

General propositions do not decide concrete cases. The decision will depend on a judgment or intuition more subtle than any articulate major premise.

For my part I think it is a less evil that some criminals should escape, than that the government should play an ignoble part.

There is nothing like the dead cold hand of the past to take down our tumid egotism and lead us into the solemn flow of the life of our race.

But the moment you turn a corner you see another straight stretch ahead and there comes some further challenge to your ambition.

It is very grand to die in harness, but it is very pleasant to have the tight straps unbuckled and the heavy collar lifted from the neck and shoulders.

To think great thoughts you must be heroes as well as idealists.

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.

The preacher's garment is cut according to the pattern of that of the hearers, for the most part.

To know is not less than to feel.

History has to be rewritten because history is the selection of those threads of causes or antecedents that we are interested in.