Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (March 8, 1841-March 6, 1935) was an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for 30 years.
Appointed in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt, he was known as the "Great Dissenter." The son of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the author and physician, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., graduated from Harvard College, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later became the editor of the American Law Review.
He was a professor at the Harvard Law School before becoming the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.
Known for his remarkable brilliance and humor, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote to William James in 1907:
<The great act of faith is when man decides that he is not God.> 1841OH001
In a letter to John C.H. Wu, dated 1924, Holmes wrote:
<Have faith and pursue the unknown end.> 1841OH002
On March 8, 1931, in reply to a reporter's question on his ninetieth birthday, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. stated:
<Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.> 1841OH003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1841OH001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1907, in a letter to William James. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 644. Carroll E. Simcox, 3000 Quotations on Christian Themes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House 1989), p. 168.
1841OH002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1924, in a letter to John C.H. Wu. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 645.
1841OH003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., March 8, 1931, in reply to a reporter's question on his ninetieth birthday. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 645. The Annals of America 20 Vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1976), Vol. 14, p. 166, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. stated: "My boy, about seventy-five years ago I learned I was not God."