Quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle

I have never loved, Watson, but if I did and if the woman I loved had met such an end, I might act even as our lawless lion-hunter has done.

It is always a joy to meet an American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believes that the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes.

The fantastic graces of Chivalry lay upon the surface of life, but beneath it was a half-savage population, fierce and animal, with little ruth or mercy.

None knew who belonged to this ruthless society. The names of the participators in the deeds of blood and violence done under the name of religion were kept profoundly secret.

One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature, he answered.

It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. (p. 261).

Holmes: I followed you. Sterndale: I saw no one. Holmes: That is what you may expect to see when I follow you.

I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.

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!

That hurts my pride, Watson. It is a petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal matter with me now...

I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.

She could but refuse me, and better be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother.

Alcuni individui, pur senza possedere il genio, hanno il notevole potere di stimolarlo.

His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

And so reader, farewell to Sherlock Holmes! I thank you for your past constancy, and can but hope that some return has been made in the shape of that distraction from the worries of life and stimulating change of thought which can only be found in the fairy kingdom of romance.

Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the statement of the unhappy schoolmaster. His drawn brows and the deep furrow between them showed that he needed no exhortation to concentrate all his attention upon a problem which, apart from the tremendous interests involved must appeal so directly to his love of the complex and the unusual. He now drew out his notebook and jotted down one or two memoranda.

I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you with human nature.

En 1878, reçu médecin à l'Université de Londres, je me rendis à Netley pour suivre les cours prescrits aux chirurgiens de l'armée ; et là, je complétai mes études. On me désigna ensuite, comme aide-major, pour le 5e régiment de fusiliers de Northumberland en garnison aux Indes.

Ningún hombre carga su mente con asuntos pequeños, salvo que tenga algún buen motivo para hacerlo.

there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their

No tiene importancia alguna lo que usted haga en este mundo. La cuestión es lo que pueda usted hacer creer a los demás que usted ha realizado.

I say now, as I said then, that 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.

I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock Holmes.

Truth is stranger than fiction