223 Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

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.

Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife.

Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.

I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.

Modesty and reverence are no less virtues of freemen than the democratic feeling which will submit neither to arrogance nor to servility.

The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race.

But I have long thought that if you knew a column of advertisements by heart, you could achieve unexpected felicities with them. You can get a happy quotation anywhere if you have the eye.

Apologizing - a very desperate habit - one that is rarely cured. Apology is only egotism wrong side out.

Life, not the parson, teaches conduct.