The Story of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is the story of his country. The narrative cannot begin with the flat date of his birth_1941. This was a man whose presence carried tradition. Everyone who met him felt it, and it was not oppressive but inspiring. Over his shoulder one glimpsed somehow his ancestors. His roots reached deep into American eart; it was the strength of these roots that permitted so plendid a flowering. If the significance of his life lay wholly in his legal achievements, there would be no place for a biography written by a layman. If its significance lay wholly in his written words, there would be no place for a biography at all. But Holmes's greatness lay most of all his manner of meeting life. He had a genius for living, a genius for finding himself wholly, using himself wholly. He loved life and believed in it.