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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?

-Arthur Conan Doyle

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The Most Dangerous Condition

Arthur Conan Doyle

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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?

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He Burst Into One Of His Rare Fits Of Laughter As He Turned Away From The Picture. I Have Not Heard Him Laugh Often, And It Has Always Boded Ill To Somebody.

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?

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

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

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

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.

If The Man Who Observes The Myriad Stars, And Considers That They And Their Innumerable Satellites Move In Their Serene Dignity Through The Heavens, Each Swinging Clear Of The Other's Orbit-if, I Say, The Man Who Sees This Cannot Realise The Creator's Attributes Without The Help Of The Book Of Job, Then His View Of Things Is Beyond My Understanding.

Accounts Are Not Quite Settled Between Us," Said She, With A Passion That Equaled My Own. "i Can Love, And I Can Hate. You Had Your Choice. You Chose To Spurn The First; Now You Must Test The Other.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

When Once Your Point Of View Is Changed, The Very Thing Which Was So Damning Becomes A Clue To The Truth.

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

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.

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.

"dr. Munro, Sir," Said He, "i Am A Walking Museum. You Could Fit What Isn't The Matter With Me On To The Back Of A -- Visiting Card. If There's Any Complaint You Want To Make A Special Study Of, Just You Come To Me, Sir, And See What I Can Do For You. It's Not Every One That Can Say That He Has Had Cholera Three Times, And Cured Himself By Living On Red Pepper And Brandy."

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 Quite A Three-pipe Problem.

I Rose To Go, But Holmes Caught Me By My Wrist And Pushed Me Back Into My Chair. 'it Is Both, Or None,' Said He. 'you May Say Before This Gentleman Anything Which You May Say To Me.

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 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?

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.

To All The World He Was The Man Of Violence, Half Animal And Half Demon; But To Her He Always Remained The Little Wilful Boy Of Her Own Girlhood, The Child Who Had Clung To Her Hand. Evil Indeed Is The Man Who Has Not One Woman To Mourn Him.

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

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.

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

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.

You Wish To Put Me In The Dark. I Tell You That I Will Never Be Put In The Dark. You Wish To Beat Me. I Tell You That You Will Never Beat Me.

The Highest Morality May Prove Also To Be The Highest Wisdom When The Half-told Story Comes To Be Finished.

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.

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

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

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.

As A Rule, Said Holmes, The More Bizarre A Thing Is The Less Mysterious It Proves To Be. It Is Your Commonplace, Featureless Crimes Which Are Really Puzzling, Just As A Commonplace Face Is The Most Difficult To Identify.

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.

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

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.

His Incredible Untidiness, His Addiction To Music At Strange Hours, His Occasional Revolver Practice Within Doors, His Weird And Often Malodorous Scientific Experiments, And The Atmosphere Of Violence And Danger Which Hung Around Him Made Him The Very Worst Tenant In London.

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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

How Wise And How Merciful Is That Provision Of Nature By Which His Earthly Anchor Is Usually Loosened By Many Little Imperceptible Tugs, Until His Consciousness Has Drifted Out Of Its Untenable Earthly Harbor Into The Great Sea Beyond!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

We Have Much To Hope From The Flowers.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

A Man With So Large A Brain Must Have Something In It.

But Love Is An Emotional Thing, And Whatever Is Emotional Is Opposed To That True Cold Reason Which I Place Above All Things.

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.

The Mighty Voice Of Canada Will Ever Call To Me.

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

Women Are Naturally Secretive, And They Like To Do Their Own Secreting.

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.

The More Outré And Grotesque An Incident Is The More Carefully It Deserves To Be Examined.

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.

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.

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

You Know My Method. It Is Founded Upon The Observation Of Trifles.

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

'it Is My Duty To Warn You That It Will Be Used Against You,' Cried The Inspector, With The Magnificent Fair Play Of The British Criminal Law.

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.

You Know How Often The Turning Down This Street Or That, The Accepting Or Rejecting Of An Invitation, May Deflect The Whole Current Of Our Lives Into Some Other Channel. Are We Mere Leaves, Fluttered Hither And Thither By The Wind, Or Are We Rather, With Every Conviction That We Are Free Agents, Carried Steadily Along To A Definite And Pre-determined End?

...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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I Can Never Bring You To Realize The Importance Of Sleeves, The Suggestiveness Of Thumb-nails, Or The Great Issues That May Hang From A Boot-lace.

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

Amberley Excelled At Chess - A Mark, Watson, Of A Scheming Mind.

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.

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

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

No Man Burdens His Mind With Small Matters Unless He Has Some Very Good Reason For Doing So.

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

There Seems To Me To Be Absolutely No Limit To The Inanity And Credulity Of The Human Race. Homo Sapiens! Homo Idioticus!

It Is A Mistake To Confound Strangeness With Mystery.

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.

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

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.

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.

Keep Your Revolver Near You Night And Day, And Never Relax Your Precautions.

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

I Had Hardly Expected So Dolichocephalic A Skull Or Such Well-marked Supra-orbital Development. Would You Have Any Objection To My Running My Finger Along Your Parietal Fissure? A Cast Of Your Skull, Sir, Until The Original Is Available, Would Be An Ornament To Any Anthropological Museum. It Is Not My Intention To Be Fulsome, But I Confess That I Covet Your Skull.

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.

The Soul Is Swayed By The Waters.

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.

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.

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

"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."

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

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.

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.

Let Me See. What Are My Other Shortcomings?

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.

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

How Sweet The Morning Air Is! See How That One Little Cloud Floats Like A Pink Feather From Some Gigantic Flamingo. Now The Red Rim Of The Sun Pushes Itself Over The London Cloud-bank. It Shines On A Good Many Folk, But On None, I Dare Bet, Who Are On A Stranger Errand Than You And I. How Small We Feel With Our Petty Ambitions And Strivings In The Presence Of The Great Elemental Forces Of Nature!

You Mentioned Your Name As If I Should Recognize It, But Beyond The Obvious Facts That You Are A Bachelor, A Solicitor, A Freemason, And An Asthmatic, I Know Nothing Whatever About You.

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

‎a Change Of Work Is The Best Rest.

""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.

My Name Is Sherlock Holmes. It Is My Business To Know What Other People Do Not Know.

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

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.

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

It's A Wicked World, And When A Clever Man Turns His Brain To Crime It Is The Worst Of All.

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.

I Had ... Come To An Entirely Erroneous Conclusion, Which Shows, My Dear Watson, How Dangerous It Always Is To Reason From Insufficient Data.

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.

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

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.

Picnics Are Very Dear To Those Who Are In The First Stage Of The Tender Passion.

His Ignorance Was As Remarkable As His Knowledge.

The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor

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

It Is With Nations As It Is With Individuals. A Book Of History Is A Book Of Sermons.

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

How Sweet The Morning Air Is! ...how Small We Feel With Our Petty Ambitions And Strivings In The Presence Of The Great Elemental Forces Of Nature!

The Times Is A Paper Which Is Seldom Found In Any Hands But Those Of The Highly Educated.

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.

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

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

A Study Of Family Portraits Is Enough To Convert A Man To The Theory Of Reincarnation.

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

The Husband Was A Teetotaller, There Was No Other Woman, And The Conduct Complained Of Was That He Had Drifted Into The Habit Of Winding Up Every Meal By Taking Out His False Teeth And Hurling Them At His Wife.

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

Why Should People Ever Take Credit For Charity When They Must Know That They Cannot Gain As Much Pleasure Out Of Their Guineas In Any Other Fashion?

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

I Am Afraid That I Rather Give Myself Away When I Explain," Said He. "results Without Causes Are Much More Impressive.

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.

'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.'

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

Depend Upon It, There Is Nothing So Unnatural As The Commonplace.

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

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

I Never Guess. It Is A Shocking Habit Destructive To The Logical Faculty.

The Emotional Qualities Are Antagonistic To Clear Reasoning.

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.

The Best Way Of Successfully Acting A Part Is To Be It.

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

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

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

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

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

What A Lovely Thing A Rose Is!

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

He Is Not A Bad Fellow, Though An Absolute Imbecile In His Profession. He Has One Positive Virtue. He Is As Brave As A Bulldog And As Tenacious As A Lobster If He Gets His Claws Upon Anyone.

The Whole Force Of The State Is At Your Back If You Should Need It. I'm Afraid That All The Queen's Horses And All The Queen's Men Cannot Avail In This Matter.

Critics Kind Never Mind! Critics Flatter No Matter! Critics Blame All The Same! Do Your Best Damn The Rest!

It Is Horrible, Yet Fascinating, This Struggle Between A Set Purpose And An Utterly Exhausted Frame.

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

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

When The Spirits Are Low, When The Day Appears Dark, When Work Becomes Monotonous, When Hope Hardly Seems Worth Having, Just Mount A Bicycle And Go Out For A Spin Down The Road, Without Thought On Anything But The Ride You Are Taking.

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 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.

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

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.

Jealousy Is A Strange Transformer Of Characters.

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

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.

It Is Not Really Difficult To Construct A Series Of Inferences, Each Dependent Upon Its Predecessor And Each Simple In Itself. If, After Doing So, One Simply Knocks Out All The Central Inferences And Presents One's Audience With The Starting-point And The Conclusion, One May Produce A Startling, Though Perhaps A Meretricious, Effect.

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

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

Well, Well, My Dear Fellow, Be It So. We Have Shared This Same Room For Some Years, And It Would Be Amusing If We Ended By Sharing The Same Cell. (...)

A Sandwich And A Cup Of Coffee, And Then Off To Violin-land, Where All Is Sweetness And Delicacy And Harmony.

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 . . .

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

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.

Violence Recoils On The Violent.

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

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

Streams May Spring From One Source, And Yet Some Be Clear And Some Be Foul.

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.

The Larger Crimes Are Apt To Be The Simpler, For The Bigger The Crime, The More Obvious, As A Rule, Is The Motive.

Dogs Don't Make Mistakes.

I Feel That There Is Reason Lurking In You Somewhere, So We Will Patiently Grope Round For It.

You See, But You Do Not Observe.

Great Sorrow Or Great Joy Should Bring Intense Hunger--not Abstinence From Food, As Our Novelists Will Have It.

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

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Charles Kingsley

Edward E. Barnard

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