Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke. Auteur: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Copy Quote More from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. “The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions.” “I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he sh…” “Every calling is great when greatly pursued.” “The first requirement of a sound body of law is, that it should correspond with…”