Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Quotes

Teenagers are some of the most passionate, dynamic and creative people I know. Yet, too often, this creative spark is left to flicker precariously and sometimes fade entirely.

Among those people not graduating, there might be a Steve Jobs or Barack Obama. We'll never know.

Middle age snuffs out more talent than even wars or sudden death does.

For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them.

My mother is a great artist, but she always treated her paintings like minor postcards. Had she pursued it, she would have been a great artist. Instead, she looked down on her art.

Middle age snuffs out more talent than ever wars or sudden deaths do.

Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.

I know great actors whom nothing has ever happened for.

For me, the saddest thing in the world is always lost potential. That is always the most heartbreaking thing, when there's something left to be mined from a situation or a person that goes unexplored; that's a tragedy to me.

I hated the thought of being just a songwriter.

Most people don't find their creativity. There are more unsung geniuses that don't even know they have great talent.

Some superior minds are unrecognized because there is no standard by which to weigh them.

The graveyard is the richest place on the surface of the earth because there you will see the books that were not published, ideas that were not harnessed, songs that were not sung, and drama pieces that were never acted.

Many ... have tremendous God-given gifts, but they don't focus on the development of those gifts. Who are these individuals? You've never heard of them- and you never will .

I was very proud of my father, and I admired him, but I always thought he was more interesting than the shows he was working on.

One is always enthralled, I think, when a young writer you're just beginning to read and comprehend dies.

Everybody denies I am a genius - but nobody ever called me one!

Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered--either by themselves or by others.

I knew guys way more talented than me who fell through the cracks.

There are great actors we'll never see just because they haven't had my luck.

I don't know if there's anything sadder than an actor who hasn't made a good picture, and at least I got a few good ones that will stand the test of time. I feel very fortunate about that.

Scholastically, I did enough to get by, but I was smarter than I let on.

It sounds so dramatic, but I'll say it: Hollywood just doesn't know what to do with me. And it's not for lack of trying.

There are many good ideas out there that never get an audience.

My father's card-playing buddies treated me as a plain, ordinary, commonplace kid destined for mediocrity - or less. I suppose they expected that I would spend my life as a clerk of some sort.