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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Age: 93 †
Born: 1841
Born: March 8
Died: 1935
Died: March 6
Judge
Jurist
Lawyer
Philosopher
Politician
University Teacher
Boston
Massachusetts
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver W. Holmes
Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
Holmes
Oliver Wendell
Jr.
Oliver Wendell
Jr. Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr
Oliver Holmes
Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr.
Cases
Intuition
Decision
Subtle
Decide
Premise
Majors
Articulate
Major
Premises
Judgment
Propositions
General
Concrete
Depends
Depend

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[The Constitution] is an experiment as all life is an experiment.
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Our test of truth is a reference to either a present or imagined future majority in favour of our view.
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Poverty comes pleading not for charity, for the most part, but imploring us to find a purchaser for its unmarketable wares.
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Nothing can be so perfect while we possess it as it will seem when remembered.
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For my part I think it is a less evil that some criminals should escape, than that the government should play an ignoble part.
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The thing I want to do is put as many new ideas into the law as I can, to show how particular solutions involve general theory, and to do it with style. I should like to be admitted to be the greatest jurist in the world.
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No generalization is wholly true—not even this one.
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To brag little, to lose well, / To crow gently if in luck, / To pay up, to own up, / To shut up if beaten, / Are the virtues of a sportingman.
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Life is a fatal complaint, and an eminently contagious one.
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Young men know the rules, but old men know the exceptions.
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Old age is like an opium dream. Nothing seems real except the unreal.
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Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it.
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Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.
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Blood is a destiny. One's genius descends in the stream from long lines of ancestry.
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Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.
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Science is the topography of ignorance. From a few elevated points we triangulate vast spaces, inclosing infinite unknown details. We cast the lead, and draw up a little sand from abysses we may never reach with our dredges.
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Every calling is great when greatly pursued.
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Science ... in other words, knowledge-is not the enemy of religion for, if so, then religion would mean ignorance. But it is often the antagonist of school-divinity.
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Young feller, you will never appreciate the potentialities of the English language until you have heard a Southern mule driver search the soul of a mule.
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Leisure only means a chance to do other jobs that demand attention.
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