266 Quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes

the hydrostatic paradox of controversy. Don't you know what that means? Well, I will tell you. You know that, if you had a bent tube, one arm of which was of the size of a pipe-stem, and the other big enough to hold the ocean, water would stand at the same height in one as in the other. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way. And the fools know it.

Beware how you take away hope from another human being.

... the hydrostatic paradox of controversy. Don't you know what that means? Well, I will tell you. You know that, if you had a bent tube, one arm of which was of the size of a pipe-stem, and the other big enough to hold the ocean, water would stand at the same height in one as in the other. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way. And the fools know it.

Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.

The greatest tragedy in America is not the destruction of our natural resources, though that tragedy is great. The truly great tragedy is the destruction of our human resources by our failure to fully utilize our abilities, which means that most men and women go to their graves with their music still in them.

But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

Have the courage to act instead of react.

A good and true woman is said to resemble a Cremona fiddle: age but increases its worth and sweetens its tone