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I made a comparison at table some time since, which has often been quoted, and received many compliments. It was that of the mind of a bigot to the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour on it, the more it contracts.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Note: This quote is frequently attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who did use it from time to time, but was not its author.

More quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer.

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All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called “facts.” They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times. It has come to you over a new route, by a new and express train of associations.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

The world's great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor its great scholars great men.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.