Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894), was a poet, physician, professor (at Dartmouth Medical School and at Harvard College), and essayist.

One poem he is noted for was "Old Ironsides," written as a tribute to the U.S.S. Constitution, famed warship from the War of 1812. Thanks in part to the poem, the frigate was saved from being decommissioned and is now the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy, and (apparently) in the world, still afloat. It is stationed in Boston (Charlestown).

As a physician, besides teaching medicine, Holmes worked to bring needed reforms to the field of medicine in the 1800's (although he met much opposition at the time).

He thought highly of Boston and its culture, and many of his writings reflected this (he came up with the term, Boston Brahmin, which he used to refer to the oldest families in the area in the sense of the persons being from good families and also intellectual). He was one of the co-founders of the magazine, The At­lan­tic Month­ly.

Holmes is the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., a noted justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

He also wrote at least nine hymns, including, "Lord of all being throned afar."

Related links:

Biographical Sketches:
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., from NNDB
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., from Wikipedia (including footnotes)

Hymns:
"Lord of all being throned afar"
"O Lord of Hosts, Al­mighty King"
"O Love Divine, That Stooped to Share"
"Thou Gracious Power"


Old Ironsides::
Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Old Ironsides"
USS Constitution Museum, Boston, MA

Quotes attributed to Mr. Holmes:

"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen."

"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."

"Man is born a predestined idealist, for he is born to act. To act is to affirm the worth of an end, and to persist in affirming the worth of an end is to make an ideal."

"Knowledge and timber shouldn't be much used till they are seasoned."