[Ads-l] Quote Origin: The Young Man Knows the Rules, But the Old Man Knows the Exceptions

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I was asked about the statement in the subject line because it has
been credited to the influential U.S. physician Oliver Wendell Holmes
Sr. and the prominent U.S. Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr.

In March 1871 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. delivered the valedictory
address to the graduating class of the Bellevue Hospital Medical
College in New York. The text of his speech was printed in “The New
York Medical Journal” in April 1871:

[Begin excerpt]
The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.
The young man knows his patient, but the old man knows also his
patient’s family, dead and alive, up and down for generations.
[End excerpt]

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. deserves credit for the expression under
examination. During subsequent years the attribution specified was
often ambiguous. In 1981 the statement was incorrectly credited to the
famous jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Here is a link to the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/03/17/knows-rules/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org