223 Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The history of what the law has been is necessary to the knowledge of what the law is.

There is no friend like the old friend, who has shared our morning days, No greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise: Fame is the scentless sunflower, with gaudy crown of gold; But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.

The only condition of peace in this world is to have no ideas, or, at least not to express them.

Imitation is a necessity of human nature.

Life is a fatal complaint, and an eminently contagious one.

Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.

The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable. To curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views necessarily also deprives others of the right to listen to those views.

Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay.

Systems die; instincts remain.