Quotes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The cheese-mites asked how the cheese got there, And warmly debated the matter; The Orthodox said that it came from the air, And the Heretics said from the platter. They argued it long and they argued it strong, And I hear they are arguing now; But of all the choice spirits who lived in the cheese, Not one of them thought of a cow.

Cu cât un fapt este mai forÈ›at È™i mai grotesc, cu atât el merit? mai mult s? fie examinat cu toat? atenÈ›ia, È™i tocmai lucrul care pare s? complice problema, dac? este cercetat aÈ™a cum se cuvine È™i cânt?rit în mod È™tiinÈ›ific, poate fi cel mai în m?sur? s? o dezlege.

A loaf of bread and a clean collar; what does man want more?

I reached this one, said my friend, by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker-street we shall just be in time for breakfast.

but still we may as well learn all there is to be learned.

You may consider me to be a murderer; but I hold that I am just as much an officer of justice as you are.

In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practice it much.

Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden myself with a companion in my various little inquiries it is not done out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances.

They knew each other very well--so well that they could sit now in that soothing silence which is the very highest development of companionship.

If you eliminate all other possibilities, whatever remains must be the truth. Sherlock Holmes

It is of the first importance,' he said, 'not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. - Sherlock Holmes in A Case of Identity - 1891

É arriscado especular antes de ter dados na mão...inconscientemente começa-se a torcer os factos para os acomodar às teorias, em vez de fazer as teorias coincidirem com os factos.

Evidência circunstancial é uma coisa ilusória - respondeu Holmes de modo pensativo; - pode demonstrar claramente determinado pormenor, mas se você alterar o seu ponto de vista, por pouco que seja, poderá notar que a evidência aponta de modo comprometedor noutra direcção completamente oposta.

She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the ming of the most resolute of men.

Elementary My dear Watson

Mediocrity does not see higher than itself. But talent instantly recognizes the genius.

You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no more hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous thing. Take that, you hound, and that! -- and that! -- and that! -- and that!

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.

You see, but you do not observe.

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods.

It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.