Oliver Wendell Holmes

American poet and physician (1809–1894)

Namesake of Wendell

physician, poet, physician writer, university teacher, novelist, medical author

Quotations with a citation

The god looked out upon the troubled deep Waked into tumult from its placid sleep; The flame of anger kindles in his eye As the wild waves ascend the lowering sky; He lifts his head above their awful height And to the distant fleet directs his sight.

Storms, thunders, waves! Howl, crash, and bellow till ye get your fill; Ye sometimes rest; men never can be still But in their graves.

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high; And many an eye has danced to see That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst the cannon's roar; The meteor of the ocean air Shall sweep the clouds no more.Her deck once red with heroes' blood Where knelt the vanquished foe; When winds were hurrying o'er the flood, And waves were white below; No more shall feel the victor's tread, Or know the conquered knee; The harpies of the shore shall pluck The eagle of the sea! Oh, better that her shattered bulk Should sink beneath the wave; Her thunders shook the mighty deep, And there should be her grave; Nail to the mast her holy flag, Set every threadbare sail And give her to the god of storms, The lightning and the gale!

The mossy marbles rest On the lips that he has prest In their bloom; And the names he loved to hear Have been carved for many a year On the tomb.

I know it is a sin For me to sit and grin At him here; But the old three-cornered hat, And the breeches, and all that, Are so queer!

Thou say’st an undisputed thing In such a solemn way.

And silence, like a poultice, comes To heal the blows of sound.

You think they are crusaders sent From some infernal clime, To pluck the eyes of sentiment And dock the tail of Rhyme, To crack the voice of Melody And break the legs of Time.

And since, I never dare to write As funny as I can.

When the last reader reads no more.

The freeman casting with unpurchased hand The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.

Thine eye was on the censer, And not the hand that bore it.

Where go the poet's lines? Answer, ye evening tapers! Ye auburn locks, ye golden curls, Speak from your folded papers!

Those kind friends who suggest to a person suffering from a tedious complaint, that he "Had better try Homoeopathy," are apt to enforce their suggestion by adding, that "at any rate it can do no harm." This may or may not be true as regards the individual. But it always does very great harm to the community to encourage ignorance, error, or deception in a profession which deals with the life and health of our fellow-creatures.

So long as the body is affected through the mind, no audacious device, even of the most manifestly dishonest character, can fail of producing occasional good to those who yield it an implicit or even a partial faith. The argument founded on this occasional good would be as applicable in justifying the counterfeiter and giving circulation to his base coin, on the ground that a spurious dollar had often relieved a poor man's necessities.

In the libraries

Open Library Elsie Venner · 1861 View library record ↗ Open Library Medical essays, 1842-1882 · 1883 View library record ↗ Open Library Poems · 1836 View library record ↗ Open Library The autocrat of the breakfast-table · 1858 View library record ↗ Open Library The poet at the breakfast-table · 1872 View library record ↗ Open Library The professor at the breakfast-table · 1860 View library record ↗

Read Oliver Wendell Holmes

The autocrat of the breakfast-table 1858 Find a copy The professor at the breakfast-table 1860 Find a copy Poems 1836 Find a copy The poet at the breakfast-table 1872 Find a copy Elsie Venner 1861 Find a copy Medical essays, 1842-1882 1883 Find a copy