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For Strange Effects And Extraordinary Combinations We Must Go To Life Itself, Which Is Always Far More Daring Than Any Effort Of The Imagination.

-Arthur Conan Doyle

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For Strange Effects And

Arthur Conan Doyle

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For Strange Effects And Extraordinary Combinations We Must Go To Life Itself, Which Is Always Far More Daring Than Any Effort Of The Imagination.

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I Felt Holmes's Hand Steal Into Mine And Give Me A Reassuring Shake. - Watson

Violence Does, In Truth, Recoil Upon The Violent, And The Schemer Falls Into The Pit Which He Digs For Another.

There's A Light In A Woman's Eyes That Speaks Louder Than Words.

To Let The Brain Work Without Sufficient Material Is Like Racing An Engine. It Racks Itself To Pieces.

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.

I Am An Omnivorous Reader With A Strangely Retentive Memory For Trifles.

The Devil’s Agents May Be Of Flesh And Blood, May They Not?

Love Has Been Taken Away From The Poets, And Has Been Brought Within The Domain Of True Science. It May Prove To Be One Of The Great Cosmic Elementary Forces. When The Atom Of Hydrogen Draws The Atom Of Chlorine Towards It To Form The Perfected Molecule Of Hydrochloric Acid, The Force Which It Exerts May Be Intrinsically Similar To That Which Draws Me To You. Attraction And Repulsion Appear To Be The Primary Forces. This Is Attraction.

We Have Much To Hope From The Flowers.

Hot Hate Is Twin Brother To Hot Love.

We Surely Know By Some Nameless Instinct More About Our Futures Than We Think We Know.

I'm Not A Psychopath, I'm A Fully Functioning Sociopath. Do Your Research.

Our Ideas Must Be As Broad As Nature If They Are To Interpret Nature.

It Seems Very Strange ... That In The Course Of The World's History So Obvious An Improvement Should Never Have Been Adopted. ... The Next Generation Of Britishers Would Be The Better For Having Had This Extra Hour Of Daylight In Their Childhood.

I Could Not Rest, Watson, I Could Not Sit Quiet In My Chair, If I Thought That Such A Man As Professor Moriarty Were Walking The Streets Of London Unchallenged.

London, That Great Cesspool Into Which All The Loungers And Idlers Of The Empire Are Irresistibly Drained.

While The Individual Man Is An Insoluble Puzzle, In The Aggregate He Becomes A Mathematical Certainty. You Can, For Example, Never Foretell What Any One Man Will Be Up To, But You Can Say With Precision What An Average Number Will Be Up To. Individuals Vary, But Percentages Remain Constant. So Says The Statistician.

I Have Seen Too Much Not To Know That The Impression Of A Woman May Be More Valuable Than The Conclusion Of An Analytical Reasoner.

It May Be That You Are Not Yourself Luminous, But That You Are A Conductor Of Light. Some People Without Possessing Genius Have A Remarkable Power Of Stimulating It.

It Is Not My Intention To Be Fulsome, But I Confess That I Covet Your Skull.

Some People's Affability Is More Deadly Than The Violence Of Coarser Souls.

By The Way, Doctor, I Shall Want Your Cooperation.' 'i Shall Be Delighted.' 'you Don't Mind Breaking The Law?' 'not In The Least.' 'nor Running A Chance Of Arrest?' 'not In A Good Cause.' 'oh, The Cause Is Excellent!' 'then I Am Your Man.' 'i Was Sure That I Might Rely On You.

There Are Times, Young Fellah, When Every One Of Us Must Make A Stand For Human Right And Justice, Or You Never Feel Clean Again.

Mediocrity Knows Nothing Higher Than Itself, But Talent Instantly Recognizes Genius.

It Is Of The Highest Importance In The Art Of Detection To Be Able To Recognise Out Of A Number Of Facts Which Are Incidental And Which Are Vital.

The Weak Man Becomes Strong When He Has Nothing, For Then Only Can He Feel The Wild, Mad Thrill Of Despair.

There Was A Brisk Northern Wind, Heavy And Wet With The Salt Of The Sea, And He Felt, As He Turned His Face To It, Fresh Life And Strength Surging In His Blood And Bracing His Limbs.

Desultory Readers Are Seldom Remarkable For The Exactness Of Their Learning.

At The Moment Our Human World Is Based On The Suffering And Destruction Of Millions Of Non-humans. To Perceive This And To Do Something To Change It In Personal And Public Ways Is To Undergo A Change Of Perception Akin To A Religious Conversion. Nothing Can Ever Be Seen In Quite The Same Way Again Because Once You Have Admitted The Terror And Pain Of Other Species You Will, Unless You Resist Conversion, Be Always Aware Of The Endless Permutations Of Suffering That Support Our Society.

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Who Was Usually Very Late In The Mornings, Save Upon Those Not Infrequent Occasions When He Was Up All Night, Was Seated At The Breakfast Table. I Stood Upon The Hearth-rug And Picked Up The Stick Which Our Visitor Had Left Behind Him The Night Before.

Circumstantial Evidence Is Occasionally Very Convincing, As When You Find A Trout In The Milk, To Quote Thoreau's Example.

A Fine Thought In Fine Language Is A Most Precious Jewel, And Should Not Be Hid Away, But Be Exposed For Use And Ornament.

I Never Can Resist A Touch Of The Dramatic.

It Is The Small Men And Not The Great Who Hold Their Noses In The Air.

Do You Know, Watson," Said He, "that It Is One Of The Curses Of A Mind With A Turn Like Mine That I Must Look At Everything With Reference To My Own Special Subject. You Look At These Scattered Houses, And You Are Impressed By Their Beauty. I Look At Them, And The Only Thought Which Comes To Me Is A Feeling Of Their Isolation And Of The Impunity With Which Crime May Be Committed There.

On General Principles, It Is Best That I Should Not Leave The Country. Scotland Yard Feels Lonely Without Me, And It Causes An Unhealthy Excitement Among The Criminal Classes.

I Fear That If The Matter Is Beyond Humanity, It Is Certainly Beyond Me.

Exactly. She Does Not Shine As A Wife Even In Her Own Account Of What Occurred. I Am Not A Whole-souled Admirer Of Womankind, As You Are Aware, Watson, But My Experience Of Life Has Taught Me That There Are Few Wives Having Any Regard For Their Husbands Who Would Let Any Man's Spoken Word Stand Between Them And That Husband's Dead Body. Should I Ever Marry, Watson, I Should Hope To Inspire My Wife With Some Feeling Which Would Prevent Her From Being Walked Off By A Housekeeper When My Corpse Was Lying Within A Few Yards Of Her.

"i Should Have More Faith," He Said; "i Ought To Know By This Time That When A Fact Appears Opposed To A Long Train Of Deductions It Invariably Proves To Be Capable Of Bearing Some Other Interpretation."

The Grand Thing Is To Be Able To Reason Backwards.

Detection Is, Or Ought To Be, An Exact Science, And Should Be Treated In The Same Cold And Unemotional Manner.

From A Drop Of Water A Logician Could Infer The Possibility Of An Atlantic Or A Niagara Without Having Seen Or Heard Of One Or The Other.

You Cannot See The Lettuce And The Dressing Without Suspecting A Salad.

I Consider That A Man's Brain Originally Is Like A Little Empty Attic, And You Have To Stock It With Such Furniture As You Choose.

Funny Inspirational

The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor

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.

Am Dining At Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington. Please Come At Once And Join Me There. Bring With You A Jemmy, A Dark Lantern, A Chisel, And A Revolver. S. H." It Was A Nice Equipment For A Respectable Citizen To Carry Through The Dim, Fog-draped Streets.

I Am Inclined To Think -' Said I. `i Should Do So,' Sherlock Holmes Remarked Impatiently.

Even The Best Of Us Are Thrown Off Some- Times.

It Is, Of Course, A Trifle, But There Is Nothing So Important As Trifles.

Once Or Twice In My Career I Feel That I Have Done More Real Harm By My Discovery Of The Criminal Than Ever He Had Done By His Crime. I Have Learned Caution Now, And I Had Rather Play Tricks With The Law Of England Than With My Own Conscience.

You Know How Easily And Suddenly These Things Happen, Beginning In Playful Teasing And Ending In Something A Little Warmer Than Friendship. You Squeeze The Slender Arm Which Is Passed Through Yours, You Venture To Take The Little Gloved Hand, You Say Good Night At Absurd Length In The Shadow Of The Door. It Is Innocent And Very Interesting, Love Trying His Wings In A First Little Flutter.

As A Rule, The More Bizarre A Thing Is, The Less Mysterious It Proves To Be.

To Underestimate Oneself Is As Much An Exaggeration Of One's Powers Than The Other.

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.

The Most Dangerous Condition For A Man Or A Nation Is When His Intellectual Side Is More Developed Than His Spiritual. Is That Not Exactly The Condition Of The World Today?

I Am The Most Incurably Lazy Devil That Ever Stood In Shoe Leather.

My Mind Rebels At Stagnation, Give Me Problems, Give Me Work!

The World Is Full Of Obvious Things Which Nobody By Any Chance Ever Observes.

I Have Heard, Mr. Holmes, That You Can See Deeply Into The Manifold Wickedness Of The Human Heart.

Indeed, I Cannot Think Why The Whole Bed Of The Ocean Is Not One Solid Mass Of Oysters, So Prolific The Creatures Seem. Ah, I Am Wandering! Strange How The Brain Controls The Brain! What Was I Saying, Watson?

The Less Experienced A Doctor Is, The Higher Are His Notions Of Professional Dignity . . .

When Such Men, Who Are Beyond Hope And Fear, Begin In Their Dim Minds To See The Source Their Woes, It May Be An Evil Time For Those Who Have Wronged Them. The Weak Man Becomes Strong When He Has Nothing, For Then Only Can He Feel The Wild, Mad Thrill Of Despair.

In Shape They Were Like Horrible Toads, And Moved In A Succession Of Springs, But In Size They Were Of An Incredible Bulk, Larger Than The Largest Elephant. We Had Never Before Seen Them Save At Night, And Indeed They Are Nocturnal Animals Save When Disturbed In Their Lairs, As These Had Been. We Now Stood Amazed At The Sight, For Their Blotched And Warty Skins Were Of A Curious Fish-like Iridescence, And The Sunlight Struck Them With An Ever-varying Rainbow Bloom As They Moved.

When People Bury Treasure Nowadays They Do It In The Post-office Bank.

On Glancing Over My Notes Of The Seventy Odd Cases In Which I Have During The Last Eight Years Studied The Methods Of My Friend Sherlock Holmes, I Find Many Tragic, Some Comic, A Large Number Merely Strange, But None Commonplace; For, Working As He Did Rather For The Love Of His Art Than For The Acquirement Of Wealth, He Refused To Associate Himself With Any Investigation Which Did Not Tend Towards The Unusual, And Even The Fantastic.

All Right, Watson. Don’t Look So Scared,” He Muttered In A Very Weak Voice. “it’s Not As Bad As It Seems.” “thank God For That!” “i’m A Bit Of A Single-stick Expert, As You Know. I Took Most Of Them On My Guard. It Was The Second Man That Was Too Much For Me.” “what Can I Do, Holmes? Of Course, It Was That Damned Fellow Who Set Them On. I’ll Go And Thrash The Hide Off Him If You Give The Word.” “good Old Watson!(...)

Yet Birth, And Lust, And Illness, And Death Are Changeless Things, And When One Of These Harsh Facts Springs Out Upon A Man At Some Sudden Turn Of The Path Of Life, It Dashes Off For The Moment His Mask Of Civilization And Gives A Glimpse Of The Stranger And Stronger Face Below.

Let Me See. What Are My Other Shortcomings?

You Are My Heart, My Life, My One And Only Thought.

Wedding Anniversary

Come What May, I Am Bound To Think That All Things Are Ordered For The Best; Though When The Good Is A Furlong Off, And We With Our Beetle Eyes Can Only See Three Inches, It Takes Some Confidence In General Principles To Pull Us Through.

We Tottered Together Upon The Brink Of The Fall. I Have Some Knowledge, However, Of Baritsu, Or The Japanese System Of Wrestling, Which Has More Than Once Been Very Useful To Me. I Slipped Through His Grip, And He With A Horrible Scream Kicked Madly For A Few Seconds And Clawed The Air With Both His Hands.

Jealousy Is A Strange Transformer Of Characters.

Dogs Don't Make Mistakes.

I Cannot Live Without Brainwork. What Else Is There To Live For? Stand At The Window Here. Was Ever Such A Dreary, Dismal, Unprofitable World? See How The Yellow Fog Swirls Down The Street And Drifts Across The Duncoloured Houses. What Could Be More Hopelessly Prosaic And Material?

The Lowest And Vilest Alleys Of London Do Not Present A More Dreadful Record Of Sin Than Does The Smiling And Beautiful Countryside.

Everything I Have To Say Has Already Crossed Your Mind." "then Possibly My Answer Has Crossed Yours.

‎a Change Of Work Is The Best Rest.

There Are No Crimes And No Criminals In These Days. What Is The Use Of Having Brains In Our Profession? I Know Well That I Have It In Me To Make My Name Famous. No Man Lives Or Has Ever Lived Who Has Brought The Same Amount Of Study And Of Natural Talent To The Detection Of Crime Which I Have Done. And What Is The Result? There Is No Crime To Detect, Or, At Most, Some Bungling Villainy With A Motive So Transparent That Even A Scotland Yard Official Can See Through It.

It Was Easier To Know It Than To Explain Why I Know It. If You Were Asked To Prove That Two And Two Made Four, You Might Find Some Difficulty, And Yet You Are Quite Sure Of The Fact. ~ Sherlock Holmes

It Has Always Seemed To Me That So Long As You Produce Your Dramatic Effect, Accuracy Of Detail Matters Little. I Have Never Striven For It And I Have Made Some Bad Mistakes In Consequence. What Matter If I Hold My Readers?

I Said That He Was My Superior In Observation And Deduction. If The Art Of The Detective Began And Ended In Reasoning From An Armchair, My Brother Would Be The Greatest Criminal Agent That Ever Lived. But He Has No Ambition And No Energy. He Will Not Even Go Out Of His Way To Verify His Own Solutions, And Would Rather Be Considered Wrong Than Take The Trouble To Prove Himself Right.

Skill Is Fine, And Genius Is Splendid, But The Right Contacts Are More Valuable Than Either.

He Seems To Have Declared War On The King’s English As Well As On The English King.

It Is A Pity He Did Not Write In Pencil. As You Have No Doubt Frequently Observed, The Impression Usually Goes Through -- A Fact Which Has Dissolved Many A Happy Marriage.

Before Turning To Those Moral And Mental Aspects Of The Matter Which Present The Greatest Difficulties, Let The Inquirer Begin By Mastering More Elementary Problems.

There Is Nothing In Which Deduction Is So Necessary As In Religion," Said He, Leaning With His Back Against The Shutters. "it Can Be Built Up As An Exact Science By The Reasoner. Our Highest Assurance Of The Goodness Of Providence Seems To Me To Rest In The Flowers. All Other Things, Our Powers, Our Desires, Our Food, Are All Really Necessary For Our Existence In The First Instance. But This Rose Is An Extra. Its Smell And Its Colour Are An Embellishment Of Life, Not A Condition Of It. It Is Only Goodness Which Gives Extras, And So I Say Again That We Have Much To Hope From The Flowers.

It Is A Fool's Plan To Teach A Man To Be A Cur In Peace, And Think That He Will Be A Lion In War.

One Must Wait Till It Comes.

Strange Indeed Is Human Nature. Here Were These Men, To Whom Murder Was Familiar, Who Again And Again Had Struck Down The Father Of The Family, Some Man Against Whom They Had No Personal Feeling, Without One Thought Of Compunction Or Of Compassion For His Weeping Wife Or Helpless Children, And Yet The Tender Or Pathetic In Music Could Move Them To Tears.

Dogmas Of Every Kind Put Assertion In The Place Of Reason And Give Rise To More Contention, Bitterness, And Want Of Charity Than Any Other Influence In Human Affairs.

Only That I Insist Upon Your Dining With Us. It Will Be Ready In Half An Hour. I Have Oysters And A Brace Of Grouse, With Something A Little Choice In White Wines. Watson, You Have Never Yet Recognized My Merits As A Housekeeper. ~ Sherlock Holmes

There Is A Soul-jealousy That Can Be As Frantic As Any Body-jealousy.

A Trusty Comrade Is Always Of Use; And A Chronicler Still More So.

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.

We Had Got As Far As This, When Who Should Walk In But The Gentleman Himself, Who Had Been Drinking His Beer In The Taproom And Had Heard The Whole Conversation. Who Was I? What Did I Want? What Did I Mean By Asking Questions? He Had A Fine Flow Of Language, And His Adjectives Were Very Vigorous.

Like All Holmes' Reasoning, The Thing Seemed Simplicity Itself When It Was Once Explained. Dr. Watson, Speaking Of Sherlock Holmes.

Detection Is, Or Ought To Be, An Exact Science, And Should Be Treated In The Same Cold And Unemotional Manner. You Have Attempted To Tinge It With Romanticism, Which Produces Much The Same Effect As If You Worked A Love-story Or An Elopement Into The Fifth Proposition Of Euclid.

I Had Neither Kith Nor Kin In England, And Was Therefore As Free As Air -- Or As Free As An Income Of Eleven Shillings And Sixpence A Day Will Permit A Man To Be. Under Such Circumstances, I Naturally Gravitated To London, That Great Cesspool Into Which All The Loungers And Idlers Of The Empire Are Irresistibly Drained.

A Hound It Was, An Enormous Coal-black Hound, But Not Such A Hound As Mortal Eyes Have Ever Seen. Fire Burst From Its Open Mouth, Its Eyes Glowed With A Smouldering Glare, Its Muzzle And Hackles And Dewlap Were Outlined In Flickering Flame. Never In The Delirious Dream Of A Disordered Brain Could Anything More Savage, More Appalling, More Hellish Be Conceived Than That Dark Form And Savage Face Which Broke Upon Us Out Of The Wall Of Fog.

If You Want To Write Good Copy, You Must Be Where The Things Are.

I Suppose I Shall Have To Compound A Felony As Usual.

It Has Long Been An Axiom Of Mine That The Little Things Are Infinitely The Most Important.

We Can't Command Our Love, But We Can Our Actions.

The Chief Proof Of Man's Real Greatness Lies In His Perception Of His Own Smallness.

When You Have One Of The First Brains Of Europe Up Against You, And All The Powers Of Darkness At His Back, There Are Infinite Possibilities.

When We Think How Narrow And Devious This Path Of Nature Is, How Dimly We Can Trace It, For All Our Lamps Of Science, And How From The Darkness Which Girds It Round Great And Terrible Possibilities Loom Ever Shadowly Upwards, It Is A Bold And A Confident Man Who Will Put A Limit To The Strange By-oaths Into Which The Human Spirit May Wander.

So Complex Is The Human Spirit That It Can Itself Scarce Discern The Deep Springs Which Impel It To Action.

It Is A Great Thing To Start Life With A Small Number Of Really Good Books Which Are Your Very Own.

I Have Frequently Gained My First Real Insight Into The Character Of Parents By Studying Their Children.

So It Was, My Dear Watson, That At Two O'clock Today I Found Myself In My Old Armchair In My Own Old Room, And Only Wishing That I Could Have Seen My Old Friend Watson In The Other Chair Which He Has So Often Adorned. - Sherlock Holmes.

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.

If The Fresh Facts Come To Our Knowledge All Fit Themselves Into The Scheme, Then Our Hypothesis May Gradually Become A Solution. Sherlock Holmes Speaking With Dr. Watson.

You See, But You Do Not Observe.

As Cuvier Could Correctly Describe A Whole Animal By The Contemplation Of A Single Bone, So The Observer Who Has Thoroughly Understood One Link In A Series Of Incidents Should Be Able To Accurately State All The Other Ones, Both Before And After.

Life, It Turns Out, Is Infinitely More Clever And Adaptable Than Anyone Had Ever Supposed.

Of All Ghosts The Ghosts Of Our Old Loves Are The Worst.

Have You Tried To Drive A Harpoon Through A Body? No? Tut, Tut, My Dear Sir, You Must Really Pay Attention To These Details.

You Never Tire Of The Moor. You Cannot Think The Wonderful Secrets Which It Contains. It Is So Vast, And So Barren, And So Mysterious.

I Think That I Had Better Go, Holmes." "not A Bit, Doctor. Stay Where You Are. I Am Lost Without My Boswell.

Steel True, Blade Straight *in 1955, Doyle's Family Sold Windlesham, Which Was Turned Into A Hotel. The Bodies Of Conan Doyle And His Wife, Jean, Were Moved To A Grave At Minstead Churchyard, Hampshire.

Might I Trouble You To Open The Window, For Chloroform Vapour Does Not Help The Palate.

Three Quiet Days. This Hell Fiend Is Like A Cat With A Mouse. She Lets Me Loose Only To Pounce Upon Me Again. I Am Never So Frightened As When Every Thing Is Still.

Problems May Be Solved In The Study Which Have Baffled All Those Who Have Sought A Solution By The Aid Of Their Senses. To Carry The Art, However, To Its Highest Pitch, It Is Necessary That The Reasoner Should Be Able To Use All The Facts Which Have Come To His Knowledge; And This In Itself Implies, As You Will Readily See, A Possession Of All Knowledge, Which, Even In These Days Of Free Education And Encyclopaedias, Is A Somewhat Rare Accomplishment.

"i Can See Nothing," Said I, Handing It Back To My Friend. "on The Contrary, Watson, You Can See Everything. You Fail, However, To Reason From What You See. You Are Too Timid In Drawing Your Inferences."

To The Man Who Loves Art For Its Own Sake, It Is Frequently In Its Least Important And Lowliest Manifestations That The Keenest Pleasure Is To Be Derived.

The Most Difficult Crime To Track Is The One Which Is Purposeless.

What Can We Know? What Are We All? Poor Silly Half-brained Things Peering Out At The Infinite, With The Aspirations Of Angels And The Instinct Of Beasts.

His Ignorance Was As Remarkable As His Knowledge.

The Man Might Have Died In A Fit; But Then The Jewels Are Missing," Mused The Inspector, "ha! I Have A Theory. These Flashes Come Upon Me At Times... What Do You Think Of This, Holmes? Sholto Was, On His Own Confession, With His Brother Last Night. The Brother Died In A Fit, On Which Sholto Walked Off The Treasure! How's That?" "on Which The Dead Man Very Considerately Got Up And Locked The Door On The Inside," Said Holmes.

Then Away Out In The Woods I Heard That Kind Of A Sound That A Ghost Makes When It Wants To Tell About Something That's On Its Mind And Can't Make Itself Understood, And So Can't Rest Easy In Its Grave, And Has To Go About That Way Every Night Grieving. As You Value Your Life Or Your Reason Keep Away From The Moor.

One Dumb-bell, Watson! Consider An Athlete With One Dumb-bell. Picture To Yourself The Unilateral Development - The Imminent Danger Of A Spinal Curvature. Shocking, Watson, Shocking!

Conceive A Jelly-fish Such As Sails In Our Summer Seas, Bell-shaped And Of Enormous Size - Far Larger, I Should Judge, Than The Dome Of St. Paul's. It Was Of A Light Pink Colour Veined With A Delicate Green, But The Whole Huge Fabric So Tenuous That It Was But A Fairy Outline Against The Dark Blue Sky. It Pulsated With A Delicate And Regular Rhythm. From It There Depended Two Long Drooping, Green Tentacles, Which Swayed Slowly Backwards And Forwards. This Gorgeous Vision Passed Gently With Noiseless Dignity Over My Head, As Light And Fragile As A Soap-bubble, And Drifted Upon Its Stately Way.

Life, My Dear Watson, Is Infinitely Stranger Than Fiction; Stranger Than Anything Which The Mind Of Man Could Invent. We Could Not Conceive The Things That Are Merely Commonplace To Existence. If We Could Hover Over This Great City, Remove The Roofs, And Peep In At The Things Going On, It Would Make All Fiction, With Its Conventionalities And Foreseen Conclusions Flat, Stale And Unprofitable.

Everything Comes In Circles. [...] The Old Wheel Turns, And The Same Spoke Comes Up. It's All Been Done Before, And Will Be Again.

I Don't Speak For Others And They Don't Speak For Me.

There's An East Wind Coming All The Same, Such A Wind As Never Blew On England Yet. It Will Be Cold And Bitter, Watson, And A Good Many Of Us May Wither Before Its Blast. But It's God's Own Wind None The Less And A Cleaner, Better Stronger Land Will Lie In The Sunshine When The Storm Has Cleared.

Anything Is Better Than Stagnation.

Just See How It Glints And Sparkles. Of Course It Is A Nucleus And Focus Of Crime. Every Good Stone Is. They Are The Devil

Excellent!" I Cried. "elementary," Said He.

Steel True, Blade Straight.

The Good Watson Had At That Time Deserted Me For A Wife, The Only Selfish Action I Can Recall In Our Association. I Was Alone.

A Client Is To Me A Mere Unit, A Factor In A Problem.

There Is No Scent So Pleasant To My Nostrils As That Faint, Subtle Reek Which Comes From An Ancient Book.

Eliminate All Other Factors, And The One Which Remains Must Be The Truth.

I Get In The Dumps At Times, And Don't Open My Mouth For Days On End. You Must Not Think I Am Sulky When I Do That. Just Let Me Alone, And I'll Soon Be Right.

He Spoke Wistfully Of A Sudden Leaving, A Breaking Of Old Ties, A Flight Into A Strange World, Ending In This Dreary Valley, And Ettie Listened, Her Dark Eyes Gleaming With Pity And With Sympathy - Those Two Qualities Which May Turn So Rapidly And So Naturally To Love.

We Balance Probabilities And Choose The Most Likely. It Is The Scientific Use Of The Imagination.

He [professor Moriarty] Is The Napoleon Of Crime, Watson. He Is The Organizer Of Half That Is Evil And Of Nearly All That Is Undetected In This Great City. He Is A Genius, A Philosopher, An Abstract Thinker. He Has A Brain Of The First Order.

Come, Watson, Come!" He Cried. The Game Is Afoot.

I Carry My Own Church About Under My Own Hat," Said I. "bricks And Mortar Won't Make A Staircase To Heaven. I Believe With Your Master That The Human Heart Is The Best Temple.

Bricks And Mortar

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.

We All Learn By Experience, And Your Lesson This Time Is That You Should Never Lose Sight Of The Alternative. Sherlock Holmes Speaking With Dr. Watson.

You Yourself May Not Be Luminous, But You Are A Conductor Of Light.

It Is Only Goodness Which Gives Extras, And So I Say Again That We Have Much To Hope From The Flowers.

Do You Know Anything On Earth Which Has Not A Dangerous Side If It Is Mishandled And Exaggerated?

Detection Is, Or Ought To Be, An Exact Science And Should Be Treated In The Same Cold And Unemotional Manner. You Have Attempted To Tinge It With Romanticism, Which Produces Much The Same Effect As If You Worked A Love-story ... Some Facts Should Be Suppressed, Or, At Least, A Just Sense Of Proportion Should Be Observed In Treating Them. The Only Point In The Case Which Deserved Mention Was The Curious Analytical Reasoning From Effects To Causes, By Which I Succeeded In Unravelling It.'' —sherlock Holmes On John Watson's "pamphlet", "a Study In Scarlet".

There Was Something Awesome In The Thought Of The Solitary Mortal Standing By The Open Window And Summoning In From The Gloom Outside The Spirits Of The Nether World.

The Most Serious Point In The Case Is The Disposition Of The Child." What On Earth Has That To Do With It?" I Ejaculated. My Dear Watson, You As A Medical Man Are Continually Gaining Insight As To The Tendencies Of A Child By The Study Of The Parents. Don't You See That The Converse Is Equally Valid. I Have Frequently Gained My First Real Insight Into The Character Of Parents By Studying Their Children.

The Future Was With Fate. The Present Was Our Own.

His Love Of Danger, His Intense Appreciation Of The Drama Of An Adventure--all The More Intense For Being Held Tightly In--his Consistent View That Every Peril In Life Is A Form Of Sport, A Fierce Game Betwixt You And Fate, With Death As A Forfeit, Made Him A Wonderful Companion At Such Hours.

...holmes, Who Loathed Every Form Of Society With His Whole Bohemian Soul, Remained In Our Lodgings In Baker Street, Buried Among His Old Books, And Alternating From Week To Week Between Cocaine And Ambition, The Drowsiness Of The Drug, And The Fierce Energy Of His Own Keen Nature.

Living, As I Do, In An Educated And Scientific Atmosphere, I Could Not Have Conceived That The First Principles Of Zoology Were So Little Known. Is It Possible That You Do Not Know The Elementary Fact In Comparative Anatomy, That The Wing Of A Bird Is Really The Forearm, While The Wing Of A Bat Consists Of Three Elongated Fingers With Membranes Between?

…but It Is Better To Learn Wisdom Late Than Never To Learn It At All.

It Is The Sweetest Spring Within The Memory Of Man. So Green, So Mild, So Beautiful! Ah, What A Contrast Between Nature Without And My Own Soul So Torn With Doubt And Terror!

By A Man's Finger-nails, By His Coat-sleeve, By His Boots, By His Trouser-knees, By The Callosities Of His Forefinger And Thumb, By His Expression, By His Shirt-cuff — By Each Of These Things A Man's Calling Is Plainly Revealed. That All United Should Fail To Enlighten The Competent Inquirer In Any Case Is Almost Inconceivable. You Know That A Conjurer Gets No Credit When Once He Has Explained His Trick; And If I Show You Too Much Of My Method Of Working, You Will Come To The Conclusion That I Am A Very Ordinary Individual After All.

To That Providence, My Sons, I Hereby Commend You, And I Counsel You By Way Of Caution To Forbear From Crossing The Moor In Those Dark Hours When The Powers Of Evil Are Exalted.

If You Had Killed Watson, You Would Not Have Got Out Of This Room Alive.

It Is A Mistake To Confound Strangeness With Mystery.

He Had Never Seen A Woman Doctor Before, And His Whole Conservative Soul Rose Up In Revolt At The Idea. He Could Not Recall Any Biblical Injunction That The Man Should Remain Ever The Doctor And The Woman The Nurse, And Yet He Felt As If A Blasphemy Had Been Committed.

Really, Watson, You Excel Yourself," Said Holmes, Pushing Back His Chair And Lighting A Cigarette. "i Am Bound To Say That In All The Accounts Which You Have Been So Good As To Give Of My Own Small Achievements You Have Habitually Underrated Your Own Abilities. It May Be That You Are Not Yourself Luminous, But You Are A Conductor Of Light. Some People Without Possessing Genius Have A Remarkable Power Of Stimulating It. I Confess, My Dear Fellow, That I Am Very Much In Your Debt.

Violence Is Sometimes A Duty.

It Is Quite A Three-pipe Problem.

I Think You Want A Little Unofficial Help. Three Undetected Murders In One Year Won't Do, Lestrade. But You Handled The Molesey Mystery With Less Than Your Usual - That's To Say, You Handled It Fairly Well.

The Stage Lost A Fine Actor, Even As Science Lost An Acute Reasoner, When [holmes] Became A Specialist In Crime.

I Know, My Dear Watson, That You Share My Love Of All That Is Bizarre And Outside The Conventions And Humdrum Routine Of Daily Life.

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.

And Once Again Mr. Sherlock Holmes Is Free To Devote His Life To Examining Those Interesting Little Problems Which The Complexity Of Human Life So Pletifuly Presents.

I Wanted To End The World But,i'll Settle For Ending Yours.

Art In The Blood Is Liable To Take The Strangest Forms.

I Am Engaged In Answering That Italian Buffoon, Mazotti, Whose Views Upon The Larval Development Of The Tropical Termites Have Excited My Derision And Contempt . . .

I Have My Own Views About Nature's Methods, Though I Feel That It Is Rather Like A Beetle Giving His

I Do Hate The City Of London! It Is The Only Thing Which Ever Comes Between Us.

Some Facts Should Be Suppressed, Or, At Least, A Just Sense Of Proportion Should Be Observed In Treating Them.

Let Me Run Over The Principal Steps. We Approached The Case, You Remember, With An Absolutely Blank Mind, Which Is Always An Advantage. We Had Formed No Theories. We Were Simply There To Observe And To Draw Inferences From Our Observations.

The Most Winning Woman I Ever Knew Was Hanged For Poisoning Three Little Children For Their Insurance-money, And The Most Repellent Man Of My Acquaintance Is A Philanthropist Who Has Spent Nearly A Quarter Of A Million Upon The London Poor.

The More We Progress The More We Tend To Progress. We Advance Not In Arithmetical But In Geometrical Progression. We Draw Compound Interest On The Whole Capital Of Knowledge And Virtue Which Has Been Accumulated Since The Dawning Of Time.

For Strange Effects And Extraordinary Combinations We Must Go To Life Itself, Which Is Always Far More Daring Than Any Effort Of The Imagination.

So Tomorrow We Disappear Into The Unknown. This Account I Am Transmitting Down The River By Canoe, And It May Be Our Last Word To Those Who Are Interested In Our Fate.

Man, Or At Least Criminal Man, Has Lost All Enterprise And Originality. As To My Own Little Practice, It Seems To Be Degenerating Into An Agency For Recovering Lost Lead Pencils And Giving Advice To Young Ladies From Boarding-schools.

My Sister And I, You Will Recollect, Were Twins, And You Know How Subtle Are The Links Which Bind Two Souls Which Are So Closely Allied.

If I Could Be Assured Of Your Destruction, I Would In The Interest Of The Public, Cheerfully Accept My Death.

If In 100 Years I Am Only Known As The Man Who Invented Sherlock Holmes Then I Will Have Considered My Life A Failure.

One Forms Provisional Theories And Waits For Time Or Fuller Knowledge To Explode Them. A Bad Habit, Mr. Ferguson, But Human Nature Is Weak. Sherlock Holmes Speaking With Dr. Watson.

Now, Watson,” Said Holmes, As A Tall Dog-cart Dashed Up Through The Gloom, Throwing Out Two Golden Tunnels Of Yellow Light From Its Side Lanterns. “you’ll Come With Me, Won’t You?” “if I Can Be Of Use.” “oh, A Trusty Comrade Is Always Of Use; And A Chronicler Still More So. My Room At The Cedars Is A Double-bedded One.

Ah! My Dear Watson, There We Come Into Those Realms Of Conjecture, Where The Most Logical Mind May Be At Fault. Sherlock Holmes Speaking With Dr. Watson.

"recognising, As I Do, That You Are The Second Highest Expert In Europe" "indeed, Sir! May I Inquire Who Has The Honour To Be The First?" Asked Holmes, With Some Asperity. "to The Man Of Precised, Scientific Mind The Work Of Monsieur Bertillon Must Always Appeal Strongly." "then Had You Not Better Consult Him?" "i Said, Sir, To The Precisely Scientific Mind. But As A Practical Man Of Affairs It Is Acknowledged That You Stand Alone. I Trust, Sir, That I Have Not Inadvertently--" "just A Little," Said Holmes.

I Am Not The Law, But I Represent Justice So Far As My Feeble Powers Go.

I Am Not A Very Good Man, Effie, But I Think That I Am A Better One Than You Have Given Me Credit For Being.

Clouds Of Insects Danced And Buzzed In The Golden Autumn Light, And The Air Was Full Of The Piping Of The Song-birds. Long, Glinting Dragonflies Shot Across The Path, Or Hung Tremulous With Gauzy Wings And Gleaming Bodies.

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