Authors:

Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes - Page 8

All Quotes Adventure Ambition Business Character Charity Children Crime Darkness Devil Doubt Earth Education Effort Energy Evidence Evil Fate Feelings Genius Giving Halloween Hate Heart Horror House Imagination Inspirational Joy Justice Knowledge Language Life Literature Logic Love Lying Math Memories Morning Nature Observation Pain Past Philosophy Running Sarcasm Science Skepticism Soul Spring Study Terror Time Violence Virtue Waiting Wall War Water Wife Writing
The ways of fate are indeed hard to understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world is a cruel jest.

The ways of fate are indeed hard to understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world is a cruel jest.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Fate, Way, World
Arthur Conan Doyle (2013). “The Complete Sherlock Holmes”, p.1147, Race Point Publishing

I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for

Arthur Conan Doyle
Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle (2015). “The sign of the four (low cost): Limited edition”, p.14, Arthur Conan Doyle

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Book, Men, Expression

As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is, the less mysterious it proves to be.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Book, Mysterious, Language
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892). “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, p.43

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Pain, Doe, Detective Work
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2013). “Collected Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Delphi Classics)”, p.40, Delphi Classics

There is nothing like first-hand evidence.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Hands, Firsts, Evidence
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2013). “Collected Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Delphi Classics)”, p.42, Delphi Classics

There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Imagination, Mystery, Horror
Arthur Conan Doyle (2016). “Sherlock Holmes - The Novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear”, p.30, BoD - Books on Demand

That which is clearly known hath less terror than that which is but hinted at and guessed.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Terror, Known
Arthur Conan Doyle (2016). “Sherlock Holmes: The Ultimate Collection”, p.185, Lulu.com

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?

Arthur Conan Doyle
Spiritual, Real, Humanity
Arthur Conan Doyle (1989). “Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Stories”, p.1012, Wordsworth Editions

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Struggle, Angel, Army
Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir (2009). “The White Company: Easyread Comfort Edition”, p.26, ReadHowYouWant.com

Well, I'm a bacteriologist, you know. I live in a nine-hundred-diameter microscope. I can hardly claim to take serious notice of anything that I can see with my naked eye.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Humorous, Eye, Sarcasm
Arthur Conan Doyle (2015). “The Lost World: Professor Challenger #1”, p.13, Zillmann Publishing

It's quite exciting," said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Holmes, Said, Exciting
Arthur Conan Doyle (2013). “The Complete Sherlock Holmes”, p.37, Race Point Pub

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Spring, Men, Clouds
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892). “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, p.290

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Horse, Queens, Book
Arthur Conan Doyle (2013). “The Complete Sherlock Holmes”, p.967, Race Point Publishing

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Book, Army, Doctors
Arthur Conan Doyle (2015). “A Study in Scarlet”, Arthur Conan Doyle

When people bury treasure nowadays they do it in the Post-Office bank.

Arthur Conan Doyle
People, Office, Treasure
Arthur Conan Doyle (2007). “The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories: The Return of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (Non-slipcased Edition) (Vol. 2) (The Annotated Books)”, p.1542, W. W. Norton & Company

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Men, Average, Numbers
Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Watson in The Sign of Four (1890).

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?

Arthur Conan Doyle
Fog, Yellow, House
Arthur Conan Doyle (2016). “Sherlock Holmes - The Novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear”, p.93, BoD - Books on Demand

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

Arthur Conan Doyle
Views, Different, May
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892). “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, p.79

No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Men, Mind, Matter
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2015). “Sherlock Holmes: The Novels: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.29, Penguin

The less experienced a doctor is, the higher are his notions of professional dignity . . .

Arthur Conan Doyle
Humorous, Sarcasm, Doctors
Arthur Conan Doyle (2007). “Around the Red Lamp: Medical Life As It Used to Be”, p.106, Fireship Press

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.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Motivational, Work, Giving
Arthur Conan Doyle (2012). “The Complete Sherlock Holmes: with an introduction from Robert Ryan”, p.98, Simon and Schuster

My sister and I, you will recollect, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so closely allied.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Two, Soul, Links
Arthur Conan Doyle (2015). “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, p.130, Zillmann Publishing

It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Smoking, Three, Fifty
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) "Red-Headed League"

Still, it is an error to argue in front of your data. You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit your theories.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Errors, Data, Finding Yourself
"Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Stories".

You May Also Like: