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The root of joy, as of duty, is to put all one's powers towards some great end.
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.
Great
Root
Powers
Towards
Roots
Duty
Joy
Ends
More quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Every calling is great when greatly pursued.
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Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before they always did, they always will and if you don't make it of wood, you must make it of words.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Poverty comes pleading not for charity, for the most part, but imploring us to find a purchaser for its unmarketable wares.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The very minute a thought is threatened with publicity it seems to shrink towards mediocrity.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
But the moment you turn a corner you see another straight stretch ahead and there comes some further challenge to your ambition.
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.
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History has to be rewritten because history is the selection of those threads of causes or antecedents that we are interested in.
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There is in all men a demand for the superlative, so much so that the poor devil that has no other way of reaching it attains it by getting drunk.
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A new and valid idea is worth more than a regiment and fewer men can furnish the former than command the latter.
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There is one gratification an old author can afford a certain class of critics that namely, of comparing him as he is with what he was. It is a pleasure to mediocrity to have its superiors brought within range.
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Certitude is not the test of certainty.
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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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The mark of a civilized man is his willingness to re-examine his most cherished beliefs.
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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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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.
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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.
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Systems die instincts remain.
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I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy - I don't disparage envy, but I don't accept it as legitimately my master.
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Free competition is worth more to society than it costs.
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