Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don’t make it of wood, you must make it of words, which are just as much used for idols as promissory notes are used for values.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1872-05), “The Poet at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
    (Source)

Collected in The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, ch. 5 (1872).

 
Added on 13-Jul-09 | Last updated 3-Feb-25
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