Quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle

By my soul! I would rather have a dry death, quoth Sir Oliver. Though, Mort Dieu! I have eaten so many fish that it were but justice that the fish should eat me.

better to be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother

The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man.

It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.

Let me say right here, Mr. Holmes, that money is nothing to me in this case. You can burn it if it's any use in lighting you to the truth. This woman is innocent and this woman has to be cleared, and it's up to you to do it. Name your figure! My professional charges are upon a fixed scale, I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether.

Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback," said he. "I am." "I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect." "Why?" "Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly simple.

When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals. He has the nerve and he has the knowledge.

How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise.

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

It was a net from which it seemed to me, a few hours ago, that there was no possible escape. But he had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to stop. He wished to improve that which was already perfect . . . and so he ruined all.

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

Give me your details, and from an armchair I will return you an excellent expert opinion.

for nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person

Well,' said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return once more to London, 'it has been a pretty business for me! I have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I gained?' 'Experience,' said Holmes, laughing. 'Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.

When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. The highest type of man may revert to the animal if he leaves the straight road of destiny.

There's the cab, Hopkins, and you can remove your man. If you want me for the trial, my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway –I'll send particulars later.

L'homme c'est rien—l'oeuvre c'est tout

The weak man becomes strong when he has nothing, for then only can he feel the wild, mad thrill of despair.

So you can put that in your pipe and smoke it Mr. Busybody Holmes.

I consider that a man's brain is originally like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge that might be useful to him gets crowded out.

Then, how do you know?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago.

As he stood by the desolate fire, he felt that the only one thing which could assuage his grief would be thorough and complete retribution, brought by his own hand upon his enemies.

I should have more faith. I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.

I much fear that British juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to my theories over Lestrade's facts.