Quotessence
Home / Topics / John Watson Quotes

John Watson Quotes

Browse 10 quotes about John Watson.

John Watson Quotes

“He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer- excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained observer to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his.”

LoveEmotionSherlock HolmesJohn Watson
Book:The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Create image

“I bet it was also the triumphant Aha! and not the truth itself that had fueled all those famous literary detectives I knew not much about except their names - Philip Marlowe, Sherlock Holmes, Joe and Frank Hardy. I felt like yelling something celebratory on my way home, something like, Yeah! or Fuck, yeah! just like Marlowe would have yelled, just like the Hardys would have yelled, and maybe Holmes, too, although maybe that's why he kept Watson around; to tell Holmes to simmer down and not get too far ahead of himself.”

YeahTriumphantSherlock HolmesAha MomentJohn WatsonPhilip MarloweAhaFrank HardyFuck YeahJoe HardyLiterary DetectivesSimmer DownThe Hardy Boys
Book:An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
Create image

“Science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. Owing to the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our environment, we respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the concordance of our reactions, understanding is born. In the course of ages, mechanisms of infinite complexity are developed, but what we call 'soul' or 'spirit,' is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the 'soul' or the 'spirit' ceases likewise. I expressed these ideas long before the behaviorists, led by Pavlov in Russia and by Watson in the United States, proclaimed their new psychology. This apparently mechanistic conception is not antagonistic to an ethical conception of life.”

LifeMindScienceSpiritReligionUniverseGoalNatureConsciousnessPsychologyEnvironmentEthicsPhysicsAstronomyTheologyMaterialismAfterlifeDogmaScience And ReligionCosmologyNaturalismWatsonDeterminismLife After DeathBehaviorismPavlovJohn WatsonFirst CauseStimuliIvan PavlovBehavioristsIvan Petrovich PavlovJohn B WatsonJohn Broadus Watson
Book:Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla
Create image

“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
Create image

“If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on the top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would then have something which didn't exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar.”

IfsFirstsLooksTwoEndsWholeArmsCoupleStuckFamiliarBeachDirtyRobesWatsonBowieJohn Watson
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five
Create image

“I imagine John Watson thinks love’s a mystery to me, but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive. When we first met, you told me that a disguise is always a self portrait, how true of you, the combination to your safe – your measurements. But this is far more intimate. This is your heart, and you should never let it rule your head. You could have chosen any random number and walked out of here today with everything you worked for. But you just couldn’t resist it, could you? I’ve always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage. Thank you for the final proof.”

ThinkingShouldFirstsHeartSelfTodaySimpleLove IsNumbersImagineMysteryDangerousMetsSafeFinalsProofChosenCombinationIntimateDestructiveChemistryDisguisePortraitsMeasurementDisadvantagesWatsonSelf PortraitSelf Portrait PhotographyJohn Watson
Author:Mark Gatiss
Create image