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Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. on Mother's Day

1809–1894 United States

← All quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

11 quotes

Each woman virtually summons every man to show cause why he doth not love her.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Love is the master-key that opens the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and, most easily of all, the gate of fear. How terrible is the one fact of beauty!

A Mortal Antipathy (1885)

The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men, — from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.

The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859)

Though fortune scowl, though prudence interfere,
One thing is certain: Love will triumph here!

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Lord of all being, thronèd afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Center and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near!

The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859)

Faith loves to lean on time's destroying arm,
And age, like distance, lends a double charm.

Urania: A Rhymed Lesson (1846)

All of us love companionship and sympathy; some of us may love them too much. All of us are more or less imaginative in our theology.

Elsie Venner (1859)

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)

Soft is the breath of a maiden's Yes:
Not the light gossamer stirs with less;
But never a cable that holds so fast
Through all the battles of wave and blast.

Cupid "the little greatest enemy."

On Thee we fling our burdening woe,
O love Divine, forever dear:
Content to suffer, while we know,
Living and dying, Thou art near!

The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859)

Attribution

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