Daily Inspiration Quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Holmes turns a bit of architectural advice into a warning label for citizenship. "Turn square corners" is the opposite of sliding by, rounding off, or hoping the state will accept a wink in place of compliance. Coming from a jurist who helped define modern American legal realism, the line is less about reverence for government than about clarity: the government is a machine that runs on formalities, deadlines, and jurisdiction, and it will grind you up if you treat it like a neighbor you can charm.

The intent is disciplinary, but not moralistic. Holmes isn't praising bureaucratic virtue; he's describing asymmetry. When you deal with other people, social life offers forgiveness, negotiation, and tact. When you deal with the state, you confront rules backed by coercion. The subtext is that courts and agencies can't be asked to improvise fairness case by case without eroding the very predictability that makes law law. "Square corners" becomes a defense of procedure as the citizen's bargain: you get stable expectations, but you pay with precision.

Context matters: Holmes wrote through the rise of the administrative state and the hardening of legal categories around taxation, contracts, and public power. His famous skepticism about lofty abstractions sits behind this sentence. Don't appeal to spirit; meet the letter. The line also carries a quiet critique of those who assume government should treat them like an exception - a reminder that power doesn't do personalized service. In a culture that loves "common sense" shortcuts, Holmes insists the state only speaks one dialect: exactness.