Oliver Wendell Holmes

Once expanded to the dimensions of a larger idea, the mind never returns to its original size.

The great thing in the world is not so much were we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

"An ounce of history is worth a pound of logic."

A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.

Most of the things we do, we do for no better reason than that our fathers have done them or that our neighbors do them, and the same is true of a larger part than we suspect of what we think.

The mode by which the inevitable comes to pass is effort.

The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas [and] the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.

We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them.

To live fully is to be engaged in the passions of one's times.