Quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.

Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.

Summary

This quote implies that life should be approached as a form of art rather than a series of calculations or objectives to be achieved. Just as a painter creates a picture by carefully choosing colors, brush strokes, and composition, life should be lived with creativity, expression, and the freedom to make choices. It emphasizes the importance of valuing the process and journey of life, focusing on the beauty of moments and experiences rather than simply striving for end results. Life is meant to be filled with individuality, imagination, and an appreciation for the artistic possibilities it offers.

Topics

Life

By Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

Well, I think that part of being young is not exactly knowin

Well, I think that part of being young is not exactly knowing why you do some of the things that you do. And it's by exploring your life or experimenting or making mistakes and learning from them hopefully that you start to forge an identity.

Stephen Chbosky

Learning

If you ever get rich and famous, by definition you are speci

If you ever get rich and famous, by definition you are special. You have done something special, and therefore you start to behave special. Then if the floor drops out, and you become down and out, you have a really new perspective.

Famous

The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucki

The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are.

Change

What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at a

What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at all, because it isn't. I imagine that Thomas Edison never did a day's work in his last fifty years.

Stephen Leacock

Enjoyment

Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first w

Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first with the eye of the spirit. Then bring to light what you have seen in the darkness, that its effect may work back, from without to within.

Caspar David Friedrich

Work

There were three things sought by invaders who crossed ocean

There were three things sought by invaders who crossed oceans to discover America. Those were gold, gospel, glory. There are four things sought by aliens who crossed heavens to discover planet earth. Those are gold, gospel, glory, gene.

Life Truth Future History Glory Discovery Gold Motivation Ocean Motive Genetics Gospel Gene

So I would choose to be with you,That's if the choice were m

So I would choose to be with you,That's if the choice were mine to make,But you can make decisions too,And you can have this heart to break

Life Music Love Heart And So It Goes

In a certain sense every creative person is a reformer, but

In a certain sense every creative person is a reformer, but this does not mean that he must be in his work a propagandist for good roads, shorter hours, and a low tariff. All these are excellent things, but they need not be the concern of the artist.

Heywood Broun, "New York World",

Artist

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

Idealism

The only thing that white people have that black people need

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.

James A. Baldwin

Power

The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would

The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. Thank you for using me, even though I didn't want to be used by anybody.

Life

There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks s

There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks sometimes.

Abraham Lincoln

Beauty Portraits Photography