Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 2020 |
| AUTHOR: | Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841–1935) |
| QUOTATION: | A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Justice |
| SUBJECTS: | Words |