201 quotes found
“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 l...”
“The affair seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You will remember, Watson, how t...”
“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence, the question is what you can make people believe that you have done.”
“My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built. Life is commonplace; the papers are sterile; audacity and romance seem...”
“Take a pinch of snuff, doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.”
“I follow my own methods, and tell as much or as little as I choose. That is the advantage of being unofficial.”
“The Times is a paper which is seldom found in any hands but those of the highly educated.”
“I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall.”
“The mighty voice of Canada will ever call to me.”
“The little things are infinitely the most important.”
“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 devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?”
“A change of work is the best rest.”
“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that w...”
“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.”
“Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence—‘This account of you we have from all quarters received.’ A Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncour...”
“It’s every man’s business to see justice done.”
“No violence, gentlemen — no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!”
“I have wrought my simple planIf I give one hour of joyTo the boy who’s half a man,Or the man who’s half a boy.”
“Holmes,” I cried, “this is impossible.” “Admirable!” he said. “A most illuminating remark. It IS impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Yet you saw for...”
