Quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle

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

My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.

Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he.

To a great mind, nothing is little,' remarked Holmes, sententiously.

Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting.

I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles.

Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.

Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.' 'The dog did nothing in the night-time.' 'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.

My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.

There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes him, and why retribution has come upon him.

For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.

There is no scent so pleasant to my nostrils as that faint, subtle reek which comes from an ancient book.

Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.' That's a rather broad idea,' I remarked. One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature,' he answered.

You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt! It was worth a wound -- it was worth many wounds -- to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may have treated her.

I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours.

Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him.

Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details.

My dear Watson, said [Sherlock Holmes], I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.

As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.

How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!

I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor?

No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.

There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellowmen.