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Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes

Physician

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Famous Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes

“All my instincts are one way, and all the facts are the other, and I much fear that British juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to my theories over Lestrade's facts.”

FactsEvidenceInstinctIntelligenceInsightIntuitionSuperiorityDetectivesCriminal JusticeSherlock HolmesTheoriesJuriesCrime Solving
Book:The Adventure of the Norwood Builder - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story
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“The affair seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.”

FactsImportanceDetailsTriflesSherlock HolmesDetectionCrimesTrivialities
Book:The Adventure of the Six Napoleons / The Adventure of the Crooked Man
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“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.”

ShouldMayArtFactsUseProblemAbleStudyHighestSolutionsPossessionAidsSensesThese DaysAccomplishmentBaffledFree Education
Book:The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated): All 4 Novels and 56 Stories with More Than 480 Illustrations
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“Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it.'' —Sherlock Holmes on John Watson's "pamphlet", "A Study in Scarlet".”

IfsShouldFactsStoriesCausesCasesStudyEffectsProduceColdOughtLove StoryTreatedCuriousReasoningProportionRomanticismHolmesWatsonScarletDetectionExact SciencesUnemotionalStudy In ScarletJohn Watson
Author:Arthur Conan Doyle
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“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.”

ReasonFactsProblemRememberImaginationSimpleViewsEffortLibertyBreakDoubtEffectsMissingStrangeDoctorsExtraordinaryRoundsCombinationAcknowledgeDaringMaryPropositionsBreaking Down
Book:The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Non-slipcased Edition) (Vol. 1) (The Annotated Books)
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“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”

IfsKnowsMadeTwoFactsMightFourEasierProveDifficultyHolmes
Book:Sherlock Holmes - The Novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear
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“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?”

KnowsFirstsLittlesFactsThreeKnownPrinciplesBirdHumorousWingsFingersEducatedAtmosphereSarcasmBatsAnatomyMembranesZoology
Book:The Lost World and Other Stories
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“Goresthorpe Grange is a feudal mansion - or so it was termed in the advertisement which originally brought it under my notice. Its right to this adjective had a most remarkable effect upon its price, and the advantages gained may possibly be more sentimental than real. Still, it is soothing to me to know that I have slits in my staircase through which I can discharge arrows; and there is a sense of power in the fact of possessing a complicated apparatus by means of which I am enabled to pour molten lead upon the head of the casual visitor.”

KnowsMayMeanStillsI CanRealFactsEffectsHumorousAdvantageComplicatedRemarkableSarcasmSentimentalArrowsCasualPossessingVisitorsAdvertisementsSoothingMansionsAdjectivesDischargeSlitsStaircases
Book:The Complete Works of Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated): Complete Sherlock Holmes Books, The Professor Challenger Series, The Brigadier Gerard Stories… (Including Poetry, Plays, Historical Works, Spiritualist Writings & Personal Memoirs)
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“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.”

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Book:A Study in Scarlet
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“Yet birth, and lust, and illness, and death are changeless things, and when one of these harsh facts springs out upon a man at some sudden turn of the path of life, it dashes off for the moment his mask of civilization and gives a glimpse of the stranger and stronger face below.”

MenGivingMomentsFactsFacesTurnsPathBirthCivilizationSpringStrongerIllnessStrangerLustMaskHarshGlimpseIllness And Death
Book:Around the Red Lamp: Medical Life As It Used to Be
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