| Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. | | | |
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| | | NUMBER: | 5 |
| AUTHOR: | Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–94) |
| QUOTATION: | I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it,—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, p. 93 (1891).
Josephus Daniels, ambassador to Mexico, sent this quotation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 1, 1936, in a note of New Year greetings, with this comment: “Here is an expression from Holmes which, if it has missed you, is so good you may find a use for it in one of your ‘fireside’ talks.”—Roosevelt and Daniels, ed. Carroll Kilpatrick, p. 159 (1952). |
| SUBJECTS: | Action |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia | | WORKS: | Oliver Wendell Holmes Collection | | |
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