Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes

I think that I had better go, Holmes.""Not a bit, doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell.

It was easier to know it than to explain why I knew it.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.

It is only when you touch the higher that you realize how low we may be among the possibilities of creation.

I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake.- Watson

Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.

She was as good as she was beautiful and as intelligent as she was good.

How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!

To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces. The sea air, sunshine, and patience, Watson—all else will come.

(...) My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.

The bent head, the averted eye, the faltering voice, the wincing figure- these, and not the unshrinking gaze and frank reply, are the true signals of passion.

What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.

It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing manner had changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions of its teacher.

I don't take much stock of detectives in novels - chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them. That's just inspiration: not business.

[O]n general principles it is best that I should not leave the country. Scotland Yard feels lonely without me, and it causes an unhealthy excitement among the criminal classes.

She was weak and helpless, shaken in mind and nerve. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such a time.

When a man does a queer thing, or two queer things, there may be a meaning to it, but when everything he does is queer, then you begin to wonder

In my inmost heart I believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the opportunity to test myself.

You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal. --Sherlock Holmes

Yes, the setting (Dartmoor) is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men.Sherlock Holmes

Art in the blood is liable to take the strongest forms

Before we begin to investigate that, let us try to realize what we do know, so as to make the most of it, and to separate the essential from the accidental.

That's rather a broad idea, " I remarked. "One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature, " he answered.

Some friend of yours, perhaps?""Except yourself I have none, " he answered. "I do not encourage visitors.

The big blank spaces in the map are all being filled in, and there's no room for romance anywhere.

The future was with Fate. The present was our own.~ The Poison Belt

I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the situation.

It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.

Her cuisine is limited but she has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotchw

Who knows, Watson? Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to the male.

It is only goodness which gives extra...

Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.

I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for everything that I do.

When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals.

My job is to know what other people do not know.

I would not bring one shadow on his life, and this I know would break his noble heart.

Truly, the old maid is a most useful person, one of the reserve forces of the community. They talk of the superfluous woman, but what would the poor superfluous man do without her kindly presence?

I have wrought my simple planIf I give one hour of joyTo the boy who’s half a man, Or the man who’s half a boy.

I am afraid that I rather give myself away when I explain, " said he. "Results without causes are much more impressive.

It would be superfluous todrive us mad, my dear Watson

A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.

Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed?

Everything I have to say has already crossed your mind.""Then possibly my answer has crossed yours.

Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.

No ghosts need

...above all, do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for it.

To a great mind, nothing is little.

Dark nights are unpleasant, " "Yes, for strangers to travel, ""The clouds are heavy.""Yes, a storm is approaching.

He was the best shot in India, and I expect that there are few better in London. Have you heard the name?''No, I have not.''Well, well, such is fame!

I should prefer that you do not mention my name at all in connection with this case, as I choose to be only associated with those crimes which present some difficulty in their solution.