It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any of these lines which run high and allow you to look down upon the houses like this." I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon explained himself. "Look at those big, isolated clumps of buildings rising up above the slates, like brick islands in a lead-coloured sea." "The board-schools." "Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wiser, better England of the future.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Related It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom y... EDGAR ALLAN POE Aegean Islands 1940-41 Where white stares, smokes or breaks, Thread white, white of ... BERNARD SPENCER The little boy was looking for his voice. (The king of the crickets had it.) In a drop of ... FEDERICO GARCíA LORCA How I wish I was like the water, Flowing so freely with every drop Let my every emotion wo... VIRGIL KALYANA MITTATA IORDACHE Look: the trees exist; the houses we dwell in stand there stalwartly. Only we pass ... RAINER MARIA RILKE Constantly risking absurdity and death whenever he performs above the heads of ... LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI Creatures of the Darkness BY VICKI JORDAN It was world of vampires and demons, wher... CHRIS COLFER Last night the rain spoke to me slowly, saying, what joy to come falling MARY OLIVER if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have one. It will not be a pansy heaven or... E. E. (EDWARD ESTLIN) CUMMINGS This Stone He went looking for a road that doesn't lead to death. He went looki... URSULA K. LE GUIN Like wind-- In it, with it, of it. Of it just like a sail, so light and strong that, even when it is... DAG HAMMARSKJöLD You look great," he said. It made her smile, even if it was a lie. "I'm as big as a house... KRISTIN HANNAH I wish I was Rapunzel Letting down her hair But at the bottom of my tower There's no... RAE EARL Solo For Ear-Trumpet The carriage brushes through the bright Leaves (vi... EDITH SITWELL In the spring of life, in the flower of youth, Everything is bright and new. In the summer of... C.A. SCHLEA Light That's how I feel- like the winter-fringed breeze might scoop me up ... ELLEN HOPKINS If You Forget Me I want you to know one thing. You know how this is: PABLO NERUDA The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be l... ELIZABETH BISHOP Take your thoughts off. The invading thoughts you have. Push them aside. See your future i... SANDRA HARNER It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When I was a boy in the midwest I used to go out and look at the stars at night and wonder about the... RAY BRADBURY I? I walk alone; The midnight street Spins itself from under my feet; My eyes sh... SYLVIA PLATH Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken to my joyful... GEORGE ORWELL (I know, it's a poem but oh well). Why! who makes much of a miracle? As to me, I know of ... WALT WHITMAN There are moments in every relationship that define when two people start to fall in love. A fi... COLLEEN HOOVER My child, I know you're not a child But I still see you running wild Between those floweri... ANTONIA MICHAELIS In the Novel He described her mouth as full of ashes. So when he kissed her finally<... SUSAN STEWART Like the moon shining bright Up high with all its grace, I can only show you at night ANA CLAUDIA ANTUNES The day will come When my body no longer exists But in the lines of this poem I will ... SAPARDI DJOKO DAMONO Let my heiress have full rights, Live in my house, sing songs that I composed. Yet how slo... ANNA AKHMATOVA A mother's love is like an island In life's ocean vast and wide, A peaceful, quiet shelter HELEN STEINER RICE A learned man came to me once. He said, "I know the way, -- come." And I was overjoyed at ... STEPHEN CRANE who knows if the moon's a balloon,coming out of a keen city in the sky--filled with pretty... E.E. CUMMINGS Hardly had the light been extinguished, when a peculiar trembling began to affect the netting u... VICTOR HUGO England once there lived a big And wonderfully clever pig. To everybody it was plain ... ROALD DAHL The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make... LEWIS CARROLL This is the spot where I will lie When life has had enough of me, These are the grasses ... SARA TEASDALE God spreads the heavens above us like great wings And gives a little round of deeds and days, W.B. YEATS Elm BY SYLVIA PLATH I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap r... SYLVIA PLATH Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, but do not take from me your laughter... PABLO NERUDA Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe i... JOHN FOWLES THE THREE LAWS OF ALL You are never to worship a living soul, Except for three entit... SUZY KASSEM One clear night while the others slept, I climbed the stairs to the roof of the house and under... MARK STRAND Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; ... JOHN KEATS sometimes i don't know, which moment which cool gust of wind will come, and enchant me SANOBER KHAN To express is to drive. And when you want to give something presence, you have to consult n... LOUIS KAHN Someday you shall meet someone Who's gonna look at you in awe- Flying high, wings all spre... SANHITA BARUAH Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds, At last he beat his music out. There lives more fait... ALFRED TENNYSON Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many ... THOMAS HARDY When Death Comes When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when... MARY OLIVER Each night I am nailed into place and forget who I am. Daddy? That's another kind of... ANNE SEXTON I don't think you realize who you're dealing with." The man clicked his tongue, "If you w... SARAH J. MAAS A Rock, A River, A Tree Hosts to species long since departed, Mark the mastodon. The ... MAYA ANGELOU I don't know if I have a favorite color. KATE MIDDLETON It's very special having a new little girl. KATE MIDDLETON Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like a world, lying in surrender. My ... PABLO NERUDA The Mistake With the mistake your life goes in reverse. Now you can see exactl... JAMES FENTON i like my body when it is with your body. It is so quite new a thing. Muscles better and n... E.E. CUMMINGS God’s vessel When God is finished molding me, I will be a beautiful vessel in his hands. ELLEN JEAN BARRIER You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the v... MAYA ANGELOU Not to waste the spring I threw down everything, And ran into the open world To sing ... ROMAN PAYNE Look on beauty, And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight; Which therein works a mira... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE The Journey One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, thou... MARY OLIVER I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it, like another country; I wanted my life... MARY OLIVER I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it, like another country; I wanted my li... MARY OLIVER Interesting how fashion is cyclical,” Jaccob said when she came out of the store with two black pl... ERIK SCOTT DE BIE Then again, maybe you couldn't have killed me," he said, crawling out of the stairway. He moved very... PATRICIA BRIGGS TODD: The history of the world, my love -- LOVETT: Save a lot of graves, Do a lo... STEPHEN SONDHEIM They stay in my mind, these beautiful people, or anyway beautiful people to me, of which t... MARY OLIVER the pleasures of the damned are limited to brief moments of happiness: like eyes in t... CHARLES BUKOWSKI Nights and days came and passed And summer and winter and the rain. And it was good t... MARGARET WISE BROWN I look at you And I want to build things Four walls A roof A room with a view JOSé N. HARRIS You see flaws in every face If you look long enough. That’s why I’m so afraid JUSTIN WETCH The mirror sighed and spoke in a tone tinged with melancholy. Its language was old and not of any of... SUKANYA VENKATRAGHAVAN Akinli, this strange boy whose life at the moment seemed to be hanging on this, pushed himself from ... KIERA CASS It has rained for five days running the world is a round puddle of sunless water... AUDRE LORDE Buckley followed the three of them into the kitchen and asked, as he had at least once a day, “Whe... ALICE SEBOLD One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept s... MARY OLIVER I saw thee once - only once - years ago: I must not say how many - but not many. It was a ... EDGAR ALLAN POE Across the Reich, the Gestapo recorded increased the activity of anti-state elements. It’s ki... ANTON SCHULZ Dad, will they ever come back?" "No. And yes." Dad tucked away his harmonica. "No not the... RAY BRADBURY in the afterglow of an evening rain i lay down in the grass and think of ... SANOBER KHAN Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like... JOHN GREEN The hour of spring was dark at last, sensuous memories of sunlight past, I stood alone in ... ROMAN PAYNE The devil stole into the Garden of Eden. He carried with him the disease— amor deliria ... LAUREN OLIVER While I slept you stood in the colorful night market with pyramids of bright fruit pi... BRENDA HILLMAN Out of the starless night that covers me, (O tribulation of the wind that rolls!) Black ... WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY I mean, d'you know what eternity is? There's this big mountain, see, a mile high, at the end of the ... NEIL GAIMAN I thought I was growing wings— it was a cocoon. I thought, now is the time to step... DENISE LEVERTOV Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen ... WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS When it happens and it hits hard, we decide certain things, and realize there's truth in all those d... DAVE MATTHES Faeries, come take me out of this dull world, For I would ride with you upon the wind, Run... W.B. YEATS What's the deal? Why can't he look into my eyes when I have words of appreciation lined u... TANYA GAMBHIR Sonnet LXV" Matilde, where are you? Down here I noticed, under my necktie and just a... PABLO NERUDA She was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms. “I never thought to look in her... J.K. ROWLING I want to see the front of you.” “That’s what all the girls say.” “Do you expect... J.R. WARD The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The End of the Raven "On a night quite unenchanting, when the rain was downward sl... HENRY N. BEARD When the sun sets like fire, I will think of you, when the moon casts its light, I... BRIAN JACQUES Lately I can't help wanting us to be like other people. For example, if I were a smoker, DEBORAH GARRISON
More Arthur Conan Doyle
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Sir Walter, with his 61 years of life, although he never wrote a novel until he was over 40, had, fo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not? ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people be... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people wit... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Watson. Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, howe... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Dr. Watson's summary list of Sherlock Holmes's strengths and weaknesses: "1. Knowledge of... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire. A fool always finds a greater fool to ad... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the sm... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE For strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far mo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You will, I am sure, agree with me that... if page 534 only finds us in the second chapter, the leng... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The most difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their child... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing more unaesthetic than a policeman. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Circumstantial evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk, to qu... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE We can't command our love, but we can our actions. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the worst. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE To the man who loves art for its own sake, it is frequently in its least important and lowliest mani... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Our ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Any truth is better than indefinite doubt. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Where there is no imagination there is no horror. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am lost without my Boswell.[Sherlock Holmes on Dr. Watson.] ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly dr... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Circumstantial evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk, to qu... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the obse... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE What a lovely thing a rose is!" He walked past the couch to the open window and held up t... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without havi... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, an... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When a man does a queer thing, or two queer things, there may be a meaning to it, but when everythin... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It has always seemed to me that so long as you produce your dramatic effect, accuracy of detail matt... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclu... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE From the first day I met her, she was the only woman to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her mor... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The ideal reasoner, he remarked, would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearing... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however imp... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake. - Watson ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The Times is a paper which is seldom found in any hands but those of the highly educated. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to sui... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is no scent so pleasant to my nostrils as that faint, subtle reek which comes from an ancient ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Well, Watson, what do you make of it?' Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn't we use a little art jargon? There's the scarlet thread of murd... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own. ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Everything I have to say has already crossed your mind." "Then possibly my answer has crossed y... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gig... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incide... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the a... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs f... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air -- or as free as an income o... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When people bury treasure nowadays they do it in the Post-Office bank. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The man might have died in a fit; but then the jewels are missing," mused the Inspector, "Ha! I have... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the wo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity or from the promptings of his master, bu... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Era peor la herida... eran peor muchas heridas... que saber la profundidad de lealtad y amor que yac... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When will you be pleased to dine, Mr. Holmes?' Mrs. Hudson asked. 'Seven-thirty, the day after to-mo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A fortune for one man that was more than he needed should not be built on ten thousand ruined men wh... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE . . . and meanwhile take my assurance that the clouds are lifting and that I have every hope that th... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE She entered with ungainly struggle like some huge awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE We give you best, Holmes. I believe you are the devil himself. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE One likes to think that there is some fantastic limbo for the children of imagination, some strange,... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE No ghosts need apply. - Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You are right," he cried with an immense sigh of relief. "It is quite superficial." His face set lik... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It was worth a wound--it was worth many wounds--to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behi... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is all in the way of professional experience. - Sherlock Holmes ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE All right, Watson. Don’t look so scared,” he muttered in a very weak voice. “It’s not as bad... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is a danger there - a very real danger to humanity. Consider, Watson, that the material, the s... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The ways of fate are indeed hard to understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then th... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures us of the weakness of self-satisf... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is a soul-jealousy that can be as frantic as any body-jealousy. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When once your point of view is changed, the very thing which was so damning becomes a clue to the t... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action I can recall in our... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Anything is better than stagnation. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Life, it turns out, is infinitely more clever and adaptable than anyone had ever supposed. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!" It was worth a wound -- it... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE presume nothing ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you s... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further beg you to be so unconventional ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Hom... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I should be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is a... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing. It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child b... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when [Holmes] became a speciali... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he i... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You see, but you do not observe ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My correspondence has certainly the charm of variety, and the humbler are usually the more interesti... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to c... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Man, or at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little practice... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The charlatan is always the pioneer... The quack of yesterday is the professor of tomorrow. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Her cuisine is limited but she has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotchwoman."[Sh... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking int... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE To a great mind, nothing is little,' remarked Holmes, sententiously. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The game is afoot. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You see, but you do not observe. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and su... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Some people's affability is more deadly than the violence of coarser souls. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Let me see—what are my other shortcomings? I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth fo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There are no crimes and no criminals in these days. What is the use of having brains in our professi... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write above the level of his own eyes. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most m... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE To begin at the beginning. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politic... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Let me see. What are my other shortcomings? ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE By a man's finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser-knees, by the callosities ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a link of it. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains," he remarked with a smile. "It's a ve... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travele... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you were asked to prove that two and two ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently: "you say that we go round the sun. If we we... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Where there is no imagination, there is no horror. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It's quite exciting," said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi stimul ac nummos contemplar in arca. (The pub... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I should prefer that you do not mention my name at all in connection with this case, as I choose to ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback,” said he. “I am.” “I ought to make you si... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am inclined to think--” said I. “I should do so,” Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently. I be... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?” “The famous scientific criminal, as famous among... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My brain has always governed my heart" Sherlock Holmes ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Let me say right here, Mr. Holmes, that money is nothing to me in this case. You can burn it if it�... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,” returned my companion, bitterly. “The ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The example of patient suffering is in itself the most precious of all lessons to an impatient world... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A wondrous subtle thing is love, for here were we two who had never seen each other before that day,... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson, ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I had,” said he, “come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how dang... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins t... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and e... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky do... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, HOWEVER ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You mentioned your name as if I should recognize it, but beyond the obvious facts that you are a bac... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You have been in Afghanistan I perceive. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is easy to be wise after the event. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE ...Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, ju... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is, the less mysterious it proves to be. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Of all ruins, that of a noble mind is the most deplorable. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE if i could be assured of your destruction, i would in the interest of the public, cheerfully accept ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There's a light in a woman's eyes that speaks louder than words. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained blood-hound picking out a ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Well, and there is the end of our little drama," I remarked, after we had sat some time smoking in s... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Il n'y a pas des sots si incommodes que ceux ont de l'esprit. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is cocaine," he said, "a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?" "No, indee... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I abhour the dull routine of existence" - Sherlock Holmes ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE