Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932, and as Acting Chief Justice of the United States January–February 1930. Noted for his long service, his concise and pithy opinions and his deference to the decisions of elected legislatures, he is one of the most widely cited United States Supreme Court justices in history, particularly for his "clear and present danger" opinion for a...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJudge
Date of Birth8 March 1841
CountryUnited States of America
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. quotes about
To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.
Most of us retain enough of the theological attitude to think that we are little gods.
Three generations of imbeciles are enough.
No generalization is wholly true—not even this one.
We have been cocksure of many things that were not so.
Life, not the parson, teaches conduct.
Every idea is an incitement. It offers itself for belief, and if believed it is acted on unless some other belief outweighs it or some failure of energy stifles the movement at its birth. The only difference between the expression of an opinion and an incitement is the speaker's enthusiasm for the result.
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.
Certitude is not the test of certainty.
Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes.
Longevity is having a chronic disease - and taking care of it.
Most of the things we do, we do for no better reason than that our fathers have done them or our neighbors do them, and the same is true of a larger part than what we suspect of what we think.
Young man, the secret of my success is that an early age I discovered that I was not God.
Old age is like an opium dream. Nothing seems real except the unreal.