Deep-seated preferences cannot be argued about - you cannot argue a man into liking a glass of beer. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. More Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. More Quotes From Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. From forty to fifty a man must move upward, or the natural falling off in the vigor of life will carry him rapidly downward. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. menfallmoving In my opinion, economists and sociologists are the people to whom we ought to turn more than we do for instruction in the grounds and foundations of all rational decisions. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. foundationdecisionpeople Even the wisest woman you talk to is ignorant of something you may know, but an elegant woman never forgets her elegance. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. ignorantnever-forgetmay For him in vain the envious seasons roll Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. julysoulsummer Blood is a destiny. One's genius descends in the stream from long lines of ancestry. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. destinylongblood One of the eternal conflicts out of which life is made up is that between the effort of every man to get the most he can for his services, and that of society, disguised under the name of capital, to get his services for the least possible return. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. effortnamesmen The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. autumnaugustfall Between two groups of people who want to make inconsistent kinds of worlds, I see no remedy but force. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. groupstwopeople Carve every word before you let it fall. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. communicationfallthinking 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. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. racehandspast There is something frightful in the way in which not only characteristic qualities, but particular manifestations of them, are repeated from generation to generation. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. generationsqualityfamily Under bad manners, as under graver faults, lies very commonly an overestimate of our special individuality, as distinguished from our generic humanity. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. individualityhumanitylying A great man represents a great ganglion in the nerves of society, or to vary the figure, a strategic point in the campaign of history, and part of his greatness consists in his being there. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. greatnesscampaignsmen The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. readingheartbook Free competition is worth more to society than it costs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. competitioncost Our test of truth is a reference to either a present or imagined future majority in favour of our view. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. majoritytestsviews To be civilized is to be potentially master of all possible ideas, and that means that one has got beyond being shocked, although one preserves one's own moral aesthetic preferences. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. moralmeanideas Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. motivationteamworkinspiring There is no friend like the old friend, who has shared our morning days, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. realmorningsweet If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it around. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. adversitycapacitytrouble
