'My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
- - - -
'I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
----
'There is nothing like first-hand evidence.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
- - - -
'I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
----
'There is nothing like first-hand evidence.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Hound of the Baskervilles
Chapter 3: "The Problem"
---
'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Scandal in Bohemia
---
'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Scandal in Bohemia
---
'I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Hound of the Baskervilles
Chapter 3: "The Problem"
---
'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Scandal in Bohemia
---
'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Scandal in Bohemia
---
'I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
 |
'You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery
---
'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery
---
"'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'
'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'
'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'
'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.'"
Exchange between Inspector Gregory &Sherlock Holmes
-Silver Blaze
---
'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery
---
'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery
---
"'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'
'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'
'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'
'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.'"
Exchange between Inspector Gregory &Sherlock Holmes
-Silver Blaze
---
'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration
---
'...when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Blanched Soldier
---
'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Beryl Coronet
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration
---
'...when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Blanched Soldier
---
'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Beryl Coronet
---
'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the The Abbey Grange
---
"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
---
'I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for?'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
---
'They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,' he remarked with a smile. 'It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
'There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
'I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 3: "Light in the Darkness"
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the The Abbey Grange
---
"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
---
'I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for?'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
---
'They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,' he remarked with a smile. 'It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
'There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
'I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 3: "Light in the Darkness"
---
'Which is it today,' I asked, 'morphine or cocaine?'
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-leather volume which he had opened.
'It is cocaine,' he said, 'a seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try it?'
Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Statement of the Case'
---
Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it in his pocket. It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 3: "In Quest of a Solution"
---
So 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 defence.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"
---
'I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'What one man can invent another can discover.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Dancing Man
---
'The emotional qualities are atagonistic to clear reasoning.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
---
'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of Charles Augustus Malevern
---
'What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Cardboard Box
---
When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.
Dr. Watson Observing Sherlock Holmes
-The Crooked Man
---
'Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Crooked Man
---
He [Holmes] loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime.
Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes
-The Resident Patient
---
'My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Man with the Twisted Lip
---
"My mind," he said, "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. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,—or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals. He has the nerve and he has the knowledge.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Speckled Band
---
'Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-Silver Blaze
---
'I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Final Problem
---
'I confess that I have been blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Man with the Twisted Lip
---
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-leather volume which he had opened.
'It is cocaine,' he said, 'a seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try it?'
Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Statement of the Case'
---
Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it in his pocket. It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 3: "In Quest of a Solution"
---
So 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 defence.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"
---
'I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'What one man can invent another can discover.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Dancing Man
---
'The emotional qualities are atagonistic to clear reasoning.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
---
'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of Charles Augustus Malevern
---
'What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Cardboard Box
---
When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.
Dr. Watson Observing Sherlock Holmes
-The Crooked Man
---
'Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Crooked Man
---
He [Holmes] loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime.
Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes
-The Resident Patient
---
'My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Man with the Twisted Lip
---
"My mind," he said, "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. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,—or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals. He has the nerve and he has the knowledge.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Adventure of the Speckled Band
---
'Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-Silver Blaze
---
'I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Final Problem
---
'I confess that I have been blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Man with the Twisted Lip
---
'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.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Five Orange Pips
---
'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. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands on it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend uon 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.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Five Orange Pips
---
'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. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands on it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend uon 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.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Case of Identity
---
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-A Case of Identity
---
Dr. John Watson Quotes ^^
Dr. John Watson was Sherlock Holmes' biographer and as such had much control in forming the readers' opinion of Holmes and for that matter the reader's opinion of Watson himself. Sherlock Holmes is introduced to the reader by Dr. Watson in the novel A Study in Scarlet. The first line of this first of the Sherlock Holmes stories reads:
Being a reprint from the reminiscences of
JOHN H. WATSON MD
late of the Army Medical Department
Under such circumstances I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
Dr. Watson
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 1: "Mr. Sherlock Holmes"
---
'This fellow may be very clever.' I said to myself, 'but he is certainly very conceited.'
Dr. Watson Quote Concerning Holmes
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'I keep a bull pup,' I said, 'and I object to row, because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the pricipal ones at present.'
Dr. John Watson Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 1: "Mr. Sherlock Holmes"
---
'You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist out of stories.'
Dr. John Watson Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque.
Dr. John Watson
-The Red-Headed League
---
So 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 defence.
Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"
---
I have not lived for years with Sherlock Holmes for nothing.
Dr. John Watson Quote
-The Hounds of the Baskervilles
Chapter 10: "Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson"
---
'Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Last Bow
---
'It has always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my friend Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent interest in them.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Reigate Puzzle
---
'I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Reigate Puzzle
---
'The ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceedingly pertinacious. For a long time he has worried me to write an experience of my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this persecution, since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are his own accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures. "Try it yourself, Holmes!" he has retorted, and I am compelled to admit that, having taken my pen in my hand, I do begin to realize that the matter must be presented in such a way as may interest the reader...Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden myself with a companion in my various little inquiries it is not done out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances. A confederate who foresees your conclusions and course of action is always dangerous, but one to whom each development comes as a perpetual surprise, and to whom the future is always a closed book, is indeed an ideal helpmate.'
Sherlock Holmes Writing
-The Blanched Soldier
[Note: The word pertinacious means: adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design; also perversely persistent]
---
'You know my methods, Watson.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Crooked Man
---
'I know my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Red-Headed League
---
Unusual Dr. Watson Trivia
In the short story, The Man with the Twisted Lip, Mrs. Watson, addresses her husband, Dr. John H. Watson, by the given name "James." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never explains this error on the part of Watson's wife.
---
All quotes on this web site were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.
CR : SH
Being a reprint from the reminiscences of
JOHN H. WATSON MD
late of the Army Medical Department
Under such circumstances I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
Dr. Watson
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 1: "Mr. Sherlock Holmes"
---
'This fellow may be very clever.' I said to myself, 'but he is certainly very conceited.'
Dr. Watson Quote Concerning Holmes
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"
---
'I keep a bull pup,' I said, 'and I object to row, because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the pricipal ones at present.'
Dr. John Watson Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 1: "Mr. Sherlock Holmes"
---
'You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist out of stories.'
Dr. John Watson Quote
-A Study in Scarlet
---
Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque.
Dr. John Watson
-The Red-Headed League
---
So 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 defence.
Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"
---
I have not lived for years with Sherlock Holmes for nothing.
Dr. John Watson Quote
-The Hounds of the Baskervilles
Chapter 10: "Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson"
---
'Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Last Bow
---
'It has always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my friend Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent interest in them.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Reigate Puzzle
---
'I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Reigate Puzzle
---
'The ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceedingly pertinacious. For a long time he has worried me to write an experience of my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this persecution, since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are his own accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures. "Try it yourself, Holmes!" he has retorted, and I am compelled to admit that, having taken my pen in my hand, I do begin to realize that the matter must be presented in such a way as may interest the reader...Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden myself with a companion in my various little inquiries it is not done out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances. A confederate who foresees your conclusions and course of action is always dangerous, but one to whom each development comes as a perpetual surprise, and to whom the future is always a closed book, is indeed an ideal helpmate.'
Sherlock Holmes Writing
-The Blanched Soldier
[Note: The word pertinacious means: adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design; also perversely persistent]
---
'You know my methods, Watson.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Crooked Man
---
'I know my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.'
Sherlock Holmes Quote
-The Red-Headed League
---
Unusual Dr. Watson Trivia
In the short story, The Man with the Twisted Lip, Mrs. Watson, addresses her husband, Dr. John H. Watson, by the given name "James." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never explains this error on the part of Watson's wife.
---
All quotes on this web site were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.
CR : SH
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