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Quotes from The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table — Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

1809–1894 United States

← All quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

61 quotes

People that make puns are like wanton boys that put coppers on the railroad tracks.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

The great delusion of mankind is in supposing that to be individual and exceptional which is universal and according to law.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

How many have withered and wasted under as slow a torment in the walls of that larger Inquisition which we call Civilization!

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

The hat is the ultimum moriens of "respectability".

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

The hat is the ultimatum moriens of respectability.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Everybody likes and respects self-made men. It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

When lawyers take what they would give
And doctors give what they would take.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

O hearts that break and give no sign
Save whitening lip and fading tresses!

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

You may set it down as a truth which admits of few exceptions, that those who ask your opinion really want your praise, and will be contented with nothing less.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Of course everybody likes and respects self-made men. It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Did I not say to you a little while ago that the universe swam in an ocean of similitudes and analogies?

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my friend, the Historian, in one of his flashing moments: "Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries."

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Memory is a net; one finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook; but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

When one has had all his conceit taken out of him, when he has lost all his illusions, his feathers will soon soak through, and he will fly no more.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

It went to pieces all at once—
All at once and nothing first,
Just as bubbles do when they burst.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

One unquestioned text we read,
All doubt beyond, all fear above;
Nor crackling pile nor cursing creed
Can burn or blot it—God is love.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

A few can touch the magic string,
And noisy Fame is proud to win them;
Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

His home! the Western giant smiles,
And twirls the spotty globe to find it;
This little speck, the British Isles?
’Tis but a freckle,—never mind it.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

A general flavor of mild decay.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.