Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Quotes
The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Scholastic and Bedside Teaching." Medical Essays: 1842-1882, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1883, p. 289.
"Winters" is used in both a literal and metaphorical sense. The wise man must be old enough to have garnered the wisdom and he must have lived through some difficult times.
What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”
There is a macho aspect to most males, even older and more mature men.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the Fireside Poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. In addition to his work as an author and poet, Holmes also served as a physician, professor, lecturer and inventor and, although he never practiced it, he received formal training in law.