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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.

-Arthur Conan Doyle

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So It Was, My

Arthur Conan Doyle

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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.

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There Is A Danger There - A Very Real Danger To Humanity. Consider, Watson, That The Material, The Sensual, The Worldly Would All Prolong Their Worthless Lives. The Spiritual Would Not Avoid The Call To Something Higher. It Would Be The Survival Of The Least Fit. What Sort Of Cesspool May Not Our Poor World Become?

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

Holy Men! Holy Cabbages! Holy Bean Pods! What Do They Do But Live And Suck In Sustenance And Grow Fat?

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

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.

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?

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's Quite Exciting," Said Sherlock Holmes, With A Yawn.

In The Year 1878 I Took My Degree Of Doctor Of Medicine Of The University Of London, And Proceeded To Netley To Go Through The Course Prescribed For Surgeons In The Army. Having Completed My Studies There, I Was Duly Attached To The Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers As Assistant Surgeon.

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.

Crime Is Common. Logic Is Rare. Therefore It Is Upon The Logic Rather Than Upon The Crime That You Should Dwell.

You Have Done All The Work In This Business. I Get A Wife Out Of It, Jones Gets The Credit, Pray What Remains For You?" "for Me," Said Sherlock Holmes, "there Still Remains The Cocaine Bottle.

It Was All Love On My Side, And All Good Comradeship And Friendship On Hers. When We Parted She Was A Free Woman, But I Could Never Again Be A Free Man.

Unrequited Love

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.

Circumstantial Evidence Is A Very Tricky Thing. It May Seem To Point Very Straight To One Thing, But If You Shift Your Own Point Of View A Little, You May Find It Pointing In An Equally Uncompromising Manner To Something Entirely Different

His Ignorance Was As Remarkable As His Knowledge. Of Contemporary Literature, Philosophy And Politics He Appeared To Know Next To Nothing... My Surprise Reached A Climax, However, When I Found Incidentally That He Was Ignorant Of The Copernican Theory And Of The Composition Of The Solar System.

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.

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?

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

One Must Wait Till It Comes.

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

You Say That Your Fare Told You That He Was A Detective?" "yes, He Did." "when Did He Say This?" "when He Left Me." "did He Say Anything More?" "he Mentioned His Name." Holmes Cast A Swift Glance Of Triumph At Me. "oh, He Mentioned His Name, Did He? That Was Imprudent. What Was The Name That He Mentioned?" “his Name," Said The Cabman, "was Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Was It Hardness, Was It Selfishness, That She Should Ask Me To Risk My Life For Her Own Glorification? Such Thoughts May Come To Middle Age; But Never To Ardent Three-and-twenty In The Fever Of His First Love.

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.

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

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

The Fair Sex Is Your Department.

I Have Mastered The Principles Of Several Religions. They Have All Shocked Me By The Violence Which I Should Have To Do To My Reason To Accept The Dogmas Of Any One Of Them.

He Foresaw That She Would Be Very Much More Useful To Him In The Character Of A Free Woman.

Watson. Come At Once If Convenient. If Inconvenient, Come All The Same.

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.

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.

We Have Much To Hope From The Flowers.

Heaven, Too, Was Very Near To Them In Those Days. God's Direct Agency Was To Be Seen In The Thunder And The Rainbow, The Whirlwind And The Lightning. To The Believer, Clouds Of Angels And Confessors, And Martyrs, Armies Of The Sainted And The Saved, Were Ever Stooping Over Their Struggling Brethren Upon Earth, Raising, Encouraging, And Supporting Them.

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

Your Life Is Not Your Own. Keep Your Hands Off It.

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

"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."

You Will Ruin No More Lives As You Ruined Mine. You Will Wring No More Hearts As You Wrung Mine. I Will Free The World Of A Poisonous Thing. Take That, You Hound, And That! - And That! - And That! - And That!

Several Incidents In My Life Have Convinced Me Of Spiritual Interposition - Of The Promptings Of Some Beneficent Force Outside Ourselves, Which Tries To Help Us Where It Can.

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.

Anything Is Better Than Stagnation.

It Is Decreed By A Merciful Nature That The Human Brain Cannot Think Of Two Things Simultaneously . . .

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

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

What The Deuce Is It To Me?" He Interrupted Impatiently: "you Say That We Go Round The Sun. If We Went Round The Moon It Would Not Make A Pennyworth Of Difference To Me Or To My Work.

Depend Upon It There Comes A Time When For Every Addition Of Knowledge You Forget Something That You Knew Before. It Is Of The Highest Importance, Therefore, Not To Have Useless Facts Elbowing Out The Useful Ones.

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

Brothers Are A Blessing For One Thing. There Is No Possibility Of Any Young Lady Getting Unreasonably Conceited If She Be Endowed With Them.

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.

Are You Conscious Of The Restful Influence Which The Stars Exert? To Me They Are The Most Soothing Things In Nature. I Am Proud To Say That I Don't Know The Name Of One Of Them. The Glamour And Romance Would Pass Away From Them If They Were All Classified And Ticketed In One's Brain. But When A Man Is Hot And Flurried, And Full Of His Own Little Ruffled Dignities And Infinitesimal Misfortunes, Then A Star Bath Is The Finest Thing In The World.

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

The Unexpected Has Happened So Continually In My Life That It Has Ceased To Deserve The Name.

Of All Ruins, That Of A Noble Mind Is The Most Deplorable.

'men Die Of The Diseases Which They Have Studied Most,' Remarked The Surgeon, Snipping Off The End Of A Cigar With All His Professional Neatness And Finish. 'it's As If The Morbid Condition Was An Evil Creature Which, When It Found Itself Closely Hunted, Flew At The Throat Of Its Pursuer. If You Worry The Microbes Too Much They May Worry You. I've Seen Cases Of It, And Not Necessarily In Microbic Diseases Either. There Was, Of Course, The Well-known Instance Of Liston And The Aneurism; And A Dozen Others That I Could Mention.'

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

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.

Philosophy, Astronomy, And Politics Were Marked At Zero, I Remember. Botany Variable, Geology Profound As Regards The Mud Stains From Any Region Within Fifty Miles Of Town, Chemistry Eccentric, Anatomy Unsystematic, Sensational Literature And Crime Records Unique, Violin Player, Boxer, Swordsman, Lawyer, And Self-poisoner By Cocaine And Tobacco.

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

There Is Nothing More Stimulating Than A Case Where Everything Goes Against You.

You See, But You Do Not Observe.

I Followed You.' I Saw No One.' That Is What You May Expect To See When I Follow You.

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

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.

No Violence, Gentlemen — No Violence, I Beg Of You! Consider The Furniture!

Violence Is Sometimes A Duty.

Work Is The Best Antidote To Sorrow, My Dear Watson.

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.

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

Where There Is No Imagination There Is No Horror.

Nature Is The True Revelation Of The Deity To Man. The Nearest Green Field Is The Inspired Page From Which You May Read All That It Is Needful For You To Know.

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.

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

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

“how Ever Did You See That?” “because I Looked For It.”

No: I Am Not Tired. I Have A Curious Constitution. I Never Remember Feeling Tired By Work, Though Idleness Exhausts Me Completely." ~ Sherlock Holmes

The Press, Watson, Is A Most Valuable Institution, If You Only Know How To Use It.

The Love Of Books Is Among The Choicest Gifts Of The Gods.

There Are No Fools So Troublesome As Those Who Have Some Wit.

You Will, I Am Sure, Agree With Me That... If Page 534 Only Finds Us In The Second Chapter, The Length Of The First One Must Have Been Really Intolerable.

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.

That Which Is Clearly Known Hath Less Terror Than That Which Is But Hinted At And Guessed.

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.

Healthy Scepticism Is The Basis Of All Accurate Observation.

You Have A Grand Gift For Silence, Watson. It Makes You Quite Invaluable As A Companion.

There Are Always Some Lunatics About. It Would Be A Dull World Without Them.

It Is An Old Maxim Of Mine That When You Have Excluded The Impossible, Whatever Remains, However Improbable, Must Be The Truth.

A Study In Scarlet, Eh? Why Shouldn't We Use A Little Art Jargon? There's The Scarlet Thread Of Murder Running Through The Colourless Skein Of Life, And Our Duty Is To Unravel It, And Isolate It, And Expose Every Inch Of It.

...while The Individual Man Is An Insoluble Puzzle, In The Aggregate He Becomes A Mathematical Certainty.

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

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.

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.

When The Impossible Has Been Eliminated, All That Remains No Matter How Improbable Is Possible.

There Are Fifty Who Can Reason Synthetically For One Who Can Reason Analytically.

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.

His Ignorance Was As Remarkable As His Knowledge.

Violence Recoils On The Violent.

I Cannot Live Without Brainwork. What Else Is There To Live For

There Is But One Step From The Grotesque To The Horrible.

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.

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.

Data!data!data!" He Cried Impatiently. "i Can't Make Bricks Without Clay.

"there Are One Or Two Elementary Rules To Be Observed In The Way Of Handling Patients," He Remarked, Seating Himself On The Table And Swinging His Legs. "the Most Obvious Is That You Must Never Let Them See That You Want Them. It Should Be Pure Condescension On Your Part Seeing Them At All; And The More Difficulties You Throw In The Way Of It, The More They Think Of It. Break Your Patients In Early, And Keep Them Well To Heel."

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.

As I Turned Away, I Saw Holmes, With His Back Against A Rock And His Arms Folded, Gazing Down At The Rush Of The Waters. It Was The Last That I Was Ever Destined To See Of Him In This World. - Watson.

‎a Change Of Work Is The Best Rest.

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

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

I Am Somewhat Exhausted; I Wonder How A Battery Feels When It Pours Electricity Into A Non-conductor?

"i Have Seen Those Symptoms Before," Said Holmes, Throwing His Cigarette Into The Fire. "oscillation Upon The Pavement Always Means An Affaire De Coeur."

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!(...)

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.

You Will Remember That I Remarked The Other Day, Just Before We Went Into The Very Simple Problem Presented By Miss Mary Sutherland, That For Strange Effects And Extraordinary Combinations We Must Go To Life Itself, Which Is Always Far More Daring Than Any Effort Of The Imagination.” “a Proposition Which I Took The Liberty Of Doubting.” “you Did, Doctor, But None The Less You Must Come Round To My View, For Otherwise I Shall Keep On Piling Fact Upon Fact On You Until Your Reason Breaks Down Under Them And Acknowledges Me To Be Right.

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!

There Are Heroisms All Round Us Waiting To Be Done.

So Swift, Silent And Furtive Were His Movements Like Those Of A Trained Bloodhound Picking Out A Scent, That I Could Not But Think What A Terrible Criminal He Would Have Made Had He Turned His Energy And Sagacity Against The Law Instead Of Exerting Them In Its Defense. -dr. Watson, The Sign Of The Four

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

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.

My Uncle, Mr. Stephen Maple, Had Been At The Same Time The Most Successful And The Least Respectable Of Our Family, So That We Hardly Knew Whether To Take Credit For His Wealth Or To Feel Ashamed Of His Position.

It Is, I Admit, Mere Imagination; But How Often Is Imagination The Mother Of Truth?

Hot Hate Is Twin Brother To Hot Love.

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.

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.

The Sky Was Of The Deepest Blue, With A Few White, Fleecy Clouds Drifting Lazily Across It, And The Air Was Filled With The Low Drone Of Insects Or With A Sudden Sharper Note As Bee Or Bluefly Shot Past With Its Quivering, Long-drawn Hum, Like An Insect Tuning-fork.

Sir Walter, With His 61 Years Of Life, Although He Never Wrote A Novel Until He Was Over 40, Had, Fortunately For The World, A Longer Working Career Than Most Of His Brethren.

We Must Look For Consistency. Where There Is A Want Of It We Must Suspect Deception.

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

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.

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

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

Just As An Octopus May Have His Den In Some Ocean Cave, And Come Floating Out A Silent Image Of Horror To Attack A Swimmer, So I Picture Such A Spirit Lurking In The Dark Of The House Which He Curses By His Presence, And Ready To Float Out Upon All Whom He Can Injure.

I Never Can Resist A Touch Of The Dramatic.

There Is Danger For Him Who Taketh The Tiger Cub, And Danger Also For Whoso Snatches A Delusion From A Woman.

Well, Sir, Let Us Do What We Can To Curtail This Visit, Which Can Hardly Be Agreeable To You, And Is Inexpressibly Irksome To Me.

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

The Approach To The Offices Of Girdlestone And Co. Was Not A Very Dignified One, Nor Would The Uninitiated Who Traversed It Form Any Conception Of The Commercial Prosperity Of The Firm In Question.

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.

It Is Stupidity Rather Than Courage To Refuse To Recognize Danger When It Is Close Upon You.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

""dear Girl," Continued Bob Advancing With An Imbecile Grin Upon His Countenance, Which He Imagined No Doubt To Be A Seductive Smile, "fly With Me! Be Mine! Share With Me The Wild Free Life Of A Barrister! Say That You Return The Love Which Consumes My Heart - Oh, Say It!" Here Bob Put His Hand Over A Hole In His Waistcoat And Struck A Dramatic Attitude.

I Have Taken To Living By My Wits.

The More Featureless And Commonplace A Crime Is, The More Difficult It Is To Bring It Home.

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.

My Business Is That Of Every Other Good Citizen - To Uphold The Law.

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

When A Doctor Does Go Wrong He Is The First Of Criminals. He Has Nerve And He Has Knowledge.

Nothing Clears Up A Case So Much As Stating It To Another Person.

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.

It’s Every Man’s Business To See Justice Done.

A Fine Horse Or A Beautiful Woman, I Cannot Look At Them Unmoved, Even Now When Seventy Winters Have Chilled My Blood.

It Is Hardly Fair To Blame America For The State Of San Francisco, For Its Population Is Cosmopolitan And Its Seaport Attracts The Floating Vice Of The Pacific; But Be The Cause What It May, There Is Much Room For Spiritual Betterment.

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

Still, It Is An Error To Argue In Front Of Your Data. You Find Yourself Insensibly Twisting Them Round To Fit Your Theories.

Finding Yourself

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.

Far Away On The Path We Saw Sir Henry Looking Back, His Face White In The Moonlight, His Hands Raised In Horror, Glaring Helplessly At The Frightful Thing Which Was Hunting Him Down. But That Cry Of Pain From The Hound Had Blown All Our Fears To The Winds. If He Was Vulnerable He Was Mortal, And If We Could Wound Him We Could Kill Him. Never Have I Seen A Man Run As Holmes Ran That Night.

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

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.

It Isn't True That The Laws Of Nature Have Been Capriciously Disturbed; That Snakes Have Talked; That Women Have Been Turned Into Salt; That Rods Have Brought Water Out Of Rocks.

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!

It Is Not That I Think Or Believe, But That I Know.

It Was An Ideal Spring Day, A Light Blue Sky, Flecked With Little Fleecy White Clouds Drifting Across From West To East. The Sun Was Shining Very Brightly, And Yet There Was An Exhilarating Nip In The Air, Which Set An Edge To A Man's Energy.

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

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?

Sherlock Holmes Took His Bottle From The Corner Of The Mantel-piece, And His Hypodermic Syringe From Its Neat Morocco Case. With His Long, White, Nervous Fingers He Adjusted The Delicate Needle, And Rolled Back His Left Shirt-cuff. For Some Little Time His Eyes Rested Thoughtfully Upon The Sinewy Forearm And Wrist, All Dotted And Scarred With Innumerable Puncture-marks. Finally, He Thrust The Sharp Point Home, Pressed Down The Tiny Piston, And Sank Back Into The Velvet-lined Armchair With A Long Sigh Of Satisfaction.

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.

What You Do In This World Is A Matter Of No Consequence. The Question Is, What Can You Make People Believe That You Have Done?

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

...it Is Only When A Man Goes Out Into The World With The Thought That There Are Heroisms All Round Him, And With The Desire All Alive In His Heart To Follow Any Which May Come Within Sight Of Him, That He Breaks Away... From The Life He Knows, And Ventures Forth Into The Wonderful Mystic Twilight Land Where Lie The Great Adventures And The Great Rewards.

Education Never Ends, Watson. It Is A Series Of Lessons, With The Greatest For The Last.

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.

It Is A Mistake To Confound Strangeness With Mystery.

Life Is Infinitely Stranger Than Anything Which The Mind Of Man Could Invent.

The Ways Of Fate Are Indeed Hard To Understand. If There Is Not Some Compensation Hereafter, Then The World Is A Cruel Jest.

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

"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."

I Think There Are Certain Crimes Which The Law Cannot Touch, And Which Therefore, To Some Extent, Justify Private Revenge.

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

Draw Your Chair Up, And Hand Me My Violin, For The Only Problem Which We Have Still To Solve Is How To While Away These Bleak Autumnal Evenings.

So All Life Is A Great Chain, The Nature Of Which Is Known Whenever We Are Shown A Link Of It.

I Am A Brain, Watson. The Rest Of Me Is A Mere Appendix.

'there's No Need For Fiction In Medicine,' Remarks Foster... 'for The Facts Will Always Beat Anything You Fancy.'

All Other Men Are Specialists, But His Specialism Is Omniscience.

Horses: Dangerous On Both Ends And Crafty In The Middle

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. [...] It Is A Mistake To Think That That Little Room Has Elastic Walls And Can Distend To Any Extent. [...] It Is Of The Highest Importance, Therefore, Not To Have Useless Facts Elbowing Out The Useful Ones.

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.

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

Every Man Finds His Limitations, Mr. Holmes, But At Least It Cures Us Of The Weakness Of Self-satisfaction.

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.

His Neighbor Is A Tooth-drawer. That Bag At His Girdle Is Full Of The Teeth That He Drew At Winchester Fair. I Warrant That There Are More Sound Ones Than Sorry, For He Is Quick At His Work And A Trifle Dim In The Eye.

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.

...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.

I Say, Watson,’ He Whispered, ‘would You Be Afraid To Sleep In The Same Room As A Lunatic, A Man With Softening Of The Brain, An Idiot Whose Mind Has Lost Its Grip?’ ‘not In The Least,’ I Answered In Astonishment. ‘ah, That’s Lucky,’ He Said, And Not Another Word Would He Utter That Night.

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