25 Oliver Wendell Holmes Quotes You Must Read

Our latest collection of Oliver Wendell Holmes quotes on Everyday Power.

1. “Death tugs at my ear and says, ‘Live. I am coming.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

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2. “Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

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3. “The books we read should be chosen with great care, that they may be, as an Egyptian king wrote over his library, ‘The medicines of the soul.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

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4. “A man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

5. “It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

6. “The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

7. “Man has his will, but woman has her way.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

8. “A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

9. “Beware how you take away hope from another human being.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

10. “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes quotes to elevate your perspective

11. “When I think of talking, it is of course with a woman. For talking at its best being an inspiration, it wants a corresponding divine quality of receptiveness, and where will you find this but in a woman?” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

12. “Don’t flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies; they are ready enough to tell them.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

13. “Many people die with their music still in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it time runs out.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

14. “What refuge is there for the victim who is oppressed with the feeling that there are a thousand new books he ought to read, while life is only long enough for him to attempt to read a hundred?” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

15. “The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

16. “Speak clearly if you speak at all, carve every word before you let it fall.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

17. “A mind that is stretched by new experiences can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

18. “For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn’t give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes (see more quotes about simplicity)

19. “Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

20. “Learn the sweet magic of a cheerful face.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Other inspirational Oliver Wendell Holmes quotes

21. “Science is the topography of ignorance.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

22. “One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

23. “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

24. “The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

25. “Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.