197 Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded.

The root of joy, as of duty, is to put all one’s powers towards some great end.

Nothing can be so perfect while we possess it as it will seem when remembered.

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

To know is not less than to feel.

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.

I despise making the most of one’s time. Half of the pleasures of life consist of the opportunities one has neglected.

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up.

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