Quotes About Analysis

You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.

They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains, he remarked with a smile. It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.

Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.

Watson, you can see everything. You fail, however, to reason from what you see.

I never guess. It is a shocking habit - destructive to the logical faculty.

Never theorize before you have data.Invariably you end up twisting facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts. -Sherlock holmes

I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart.

The ideal reasoner would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it but also the results which would follow from it.

The more outre and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined, and the very point which appears to complicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled, the one which is most likely to elucidate it.

I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data.

The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.

You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist out of stories.

Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses.

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

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

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

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.

Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man, it is perhaps better to take the knee of the trouser. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward.

He has considerable gifts himself. He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective. He has the power of observation and that of deduction. He is only wanting in knowledge; and that may come in time.

No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit—destructive to the logical faculty.

There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.

Science of Deduction

The difficulty is to detach the framework of fact—of absolute undeniable fact—from the embellishments of theorists and reporters.