Sherlock Holmes Quotes
Prepared by: Dmitry Sirotkin
I present to you a selection of quotes from detective Sherlock Holmes .
It so happened that he became more famous than his creator , the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930).
Quotes are summarized by topic: solving crimes, about yourself, people, life ethics, reflection, facts, women, criminals, fear, life, little things, head, science, love, suburbs, murder, things, fools, explanation.
About solving crimes
In the art of solving crimes, the ability to isolate the essential facts from a huge number of facts and discard the incidental ones is of paramount importance. Otherwise, your energy and attention will certainly be scattered instead of focusing on the main thing.
The simpler the crime, the more difficult it is to get to the truth.
The most banal crime often turns out to be the most mysterious, because it is not accompanied by any special circumstances that could become the basis for conclusions.
The most difficult crime to solve is one committed without any purpose.
Throw away everything that could not have happened, and one single fact remains, which is the truth.
Throw away all the impossible, what remains is the answer, no matter how incredible it turns out to be.
In a complicated matter, Watson, the best assistant is common sense. I suspect everyone until I find the culprit.
You have to look for logic in everything. Where it is lacking, one must suspect deception.
Making assumptions without knowing all the circumstances of the case is the biggest mistake. This may influence the further course of reasoning.
This happens in a nightmare, when you are looking for some terribly necessary thing and you know that it is somewhere nearby, but it still remains elusive and inaccessible.
The general rule is this: the stranger the case, the less mysterious it turns out to be.
Singularity is almost always the key to solving a mystery.
Fantasies are still better than brain fog.
We are scouts in the enemy camp.
The cops did a brilliant job destroying any evidence.
About Me
My name is Sherlock Holmes. My profession is to know what others don't know.
Watson claims that I am a real life theater director.
There has not been and is not a person in the world who has devoted as much perseverance and natural gift to solving crimes as I have.
I look like a mathematician. I am interested in one thing: the correct solution to a difficult problem, and how this decision will affect people is, really, completely indifferent to me.
I have a strange body. I don't remember a time when work tired me. But idleness exhausts me.
I cannot live without intense mental work. The purpose of life disappears... What is the use of exceptional abilities if there is no opportunity to use them?
The theater lost in my person exactly as much as justice gained.
I fight evil to the best of my modest strength and capabilities, but to rebel against the very progenitor of evil would, perhaps, be too arrogant on my part.
You know, as soon as a magician explains at least one of his tricks, the aura of his glory immediately fades in the eyes of the audience; and if I reveal to you the method of my work, you will perhaps come to the conclusion that I am the most ordinary mediocrity!
Danger is an inevitable companion of my profession.
I'm not a timid person. However, not taking into account the danger that threatens you is more stupidity than courage.
I could take four shots, but six is too much.
I always believed deep down that I could succeed where others had failed.
Pass me my violin, and let's try for half an hour to forget the disgusting weather and the even more disgusting actions of our neighbors.
About people
Any logical person should see things as they are, and underestimating oneself is exactly as far from the truth as exaggerating one’s capabilities.
People usually see and hear what they want to see and hear.
You look, but you don't notice, and that's a big difference.
Unbeknownst to himself, a person begins to adjust facts to his theory, instead of building a theory on facts.
Even the best, smartest representative of the human race is capable of sinking to the level of an unreasonable creature if he chooses a path other than the one destined for him by nature...
Some people, without having outstanding abilities, masterfully know how to ignite them in others.
Everyone shudders the first time they seriously call him an old man.
What is invented by one person can be understood by another.
If you want to find out what your friend thinks about you, make him angry.
By the way, quotes about people
About life ethics
A man should furnish the attic of his brain with everything that he is likely to need, and he should put the rest of his knowledge in a closet in his library, from where he can get it when needed.
I say “luck,” but I wouldn’t have found it on my way if I hadn’t been looking for it.
It's never too late to learn. Education is a chain of lessons, and the most serious ones come at the end.
The best way to get to the bottom of a case is to tell the full story to someone else.
You should always try to put yourself in the place of another and imagine what you yourself would do.
Luckily, there is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you.
What is illegal, you know, sometimes helps a lot.
It doesn't matter how much you've done, the main thing is to be able to convince people that you've done a lot.
The most important thing when dealing with ordinary people is not to let them know that you want to learn something from them. As soon as they understand this, they will immediately shut the doors like oysters. If you listen to them with an absent-minded look and ask random questions, you will learn anything from them.
About thinking
Through inferences one can solve problems that have baffled everyone who sought solutions with the help of their senses.
When two paths along which thought has developed cross, the point of intersection gives the closest approximation to the truth.
Crime is commonplace. Logic is rare. So you better focus on logic rather than crime.
When the initial results of deduction began to be confirmed point by point by a whole series of unrelated facts, then the subjective feeling became an objective truth.
Emotions are hostile to pure thinking.
It is not so difficult to construct a series of conclusions in which each subsequent one follows in the simplest way from the previous one. If you then remove all the middle links and tell the listener only the first link and the last, they will produce a stunning, although false, impression.
About the facts
Facts, facts, facts! I can't build a house without cement.
A true thinker, having seen a single fact in its entirety, can deduce from it not only the whole chain of events leading to it, but also all the consequences flowing from it.
Nothing is more deceptive than too obvious facts.
The more absurd and rude a detail seems to you, the more attention it deserves. Those circumstances that at first glance only complicate the matter most often lead you to a solution.
If a fact at first glance contradicts the entire sequence of inferences, this only means that it has some other interpretation.
About women
Women, Watson, cannot be trusted. Even the best of them.
Women are naturally inclined to mystery and like to surround themselves with secrets.
Women are secretive by nature and keep their own secrets.
I am an experienced person and I know that a woman’s direct instinct can sometimes be more valuable than any logical conclusions.
A woman remains a complete mystery to us men. She can forget or at least accept the past, even a serious crime, and at the same time torment herself over a mere trifle.
By the way, quotes about women
About criminals
There are trees, Watson, that grow normally up to a certain height, and then suddenly reveal some ugly deviation from the norm in their development. This often happens to people too.
Oh, how much evil there is in the world, and the worst thing is when evil deeds are committed by a smart person!
When a doctor commits a crime, he is more dangerous than all other criminals. He has strong nerves and great knowledge.
About fear
Fear is the most powerful weapon of all.
Fear is a contagious thing. It is passed on to others. Sometimes it’s enough to say “I’m afraid” for the fear to become palpable.
Where there is no food for imagination, there is no fear.
About life
The main thing in this world is not where we stand, but in which direction we are moving.
My whole life is a continuous effort to escape the dreary monotony of everyday life.
Life is pure vulgarity, newspapers are emasculated, courage and romance seem to have disappeared forever from the criminal world.
By the way, quotes about life
About little things
I have always been of the opinion that the little things matter most.
Sometimes the most serious conclusions are based on mere trifles.
For a great mind there are no small things.
About the head
The head is not just for decoration; sometimes you need to think with it.
The human brain is like a small empty attic that you can decorate however you want. A fool will drag all sorts of junk in there, and there will be no place to put useful, necessary things, or at best you won’t be able to get to them. And a smart person carefully selects what he puts in his attic. He will take only what he needs for work and arrange everything in perfect order. It is in vain that people think that this small room has elastic walls.
About science
Theories put forward to explain the laws of nature must be as unique as nature itself.
I have a large stock of modern scientific knowledge, acquired quite haphazardly and at the same time serving me as a great help in my work. My memory is like a closet, crammed with so many different packages and things that I myself can hardly imagine its contents.
By the way, quotes about science
About love
Love is an emotional thing, and being such, it is the opposite of pure and cold reason. And, as you know, I value reason above all else. As for me, I will never get married so as not to lose clarity of mind.
A man, no matter how badly he treats a woman, never believes that her love is completely lost to him.
By the way, quotes about love
About the suburb
So you look at these houses scattered along the road and admire their beauty. And when I see them, I only think about how secluded they are and how one can commit a crime here with impunity.
In the darkest and dirtiest corners of London, not so much sin is committed as in these delightful and cheerful suburbs.
About murder
Murder is a strange thing, my friend. Sometimes it is a very personal thing, and sometimes it is only done if others encourage it.
Murder is woven with a red thread into the colorless tangle of life, and it is our duty to unravel this tangle and pull out the red thread from it, exposing it inch by inch.
About things
Things can say more about people than people can say about things.
But your clothes say more than you think.
About fools
A fool always inspires admiration for a fool.
Argument equalizes smart people and fools - and fools know it.
About the explanation
The fact of the matter is that a simple explanation always comes to mind last.
An explanation is not always a solution to a problem.
About miscellaneous
And they say there are no coincidences. And what fool came up with this?
Genius is endless endurance.
How terrible is wisdom that does not bring benefit to the wise man.
A revolver is an excellent argument for a gentleman who can tie a knot in a steel poker.
You can never know in advance how circumstances will turn out later...
Print, Watson, is a real treasure if you know how to use it.
Public opinion in cities matters even more than the law.
Business is a cruel game. Here the weak perish.
Taxes are the price we pay for the opportunity to live in a civilized society.
In any dog, as in a mirror, the atmosphere prevailing in the family is visible. Tell me, have you ever met a carefree and cheerful animal living in an unhappy family, or, on the contrary, a sad animal living in a prosperous one? With an evil owner, even the dog seems rabid; With a dangerous owner, the dog is certainly dangerous. When a dog's mood changes, one can easily judge the owner's mood by this change.
The image of Sherlock Holmes has some kind of inexplicable charm , despite his rationality and high self-esteem. It is difficult to remember any other equally charming bearer of “pure reason”. In fact, he confidently maintains leadership among literary detectives.
Quotes about Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes
- G. Chesterton: None of the modern heroes, with the exception of Sherlock Holmes, manages to go beyond the boundaries of the book, just as a chicken breaks its shell and emerges into the light.
- B. Shaw: His [Conan Doyle's] outburst about the Titanic disaster left no mark on our personal relationship. (by the way, quotes from Bernard Shaw)
- J.K. Jerome: He was sitting at a table in the corner of his living room, writing a story, while about ten people were laughing and talking. He felt more comfortable here than in his office. Sometimes, without looking up from his work, he would make some remark, making it clear that he was following our conversation, but his pen continued to scribble tirelessly.
- A.N. Tolstoy: And it seemed to me that just as hard and strong were his teeth, as hard and strong were his [Conan Doyle’s] thoughts and decisions, so firmly did he fall in love for the rest of his life, and it was good and comfortable to have such a person as a friend. Like a true Englishman, he is both simple-minded and firm.
- J. Fowles: He [Conan Doyle] never realized what his greatest talent was.
- K. Chukovsky: He was not a great writer; he cannot be compared with such geniuses of English literature as Swift, Defoe, Fielding, Thackeray, Dickens. He was a typical bourgeois writer, who never dared to rebel against the “old world,” with which he always remained in harmony. Nowhere in his books is there a shadow of protest visible. His Sherlock Holmes fearlessly and stubbornly fights dozens of all kinds of villains, but never thought to ask himself: why does the vaunted English life give birth to so many criminals?
Then you can move on to other collections:
- quotes by Ostap Bender
- Wilde quotes
- Twain quotes
- Hugo quotes
- London quotes
- Churchill quotes
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Aphorisms and quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle, (1859-1930), English writer.
Things can say much more about people than people can tell about things.
Streams may flow from one source, and yet some are clear, while others are muddy.
Let kind, quiet, patient mother nature be despised and reviled, but the time comes - and she clutches her most lost child to her breast.
No one understands the true meaning of the time in which he lives. The ancient masters painted taverns and Saint Sebastians, and Columbus discovered the New World before their eyes.
The society of dead writers may turn out to be so attractive that a person will think too rarely about the living. Many of us should seriously fear that, immersed in the legacy of the dead, we will never know our own thoughts and feelings.
...It is most beautiful when the wisdom of the dead and their example give us the strength and patience to survive the difficult days of our own lives.
Really, there is something eerie in rows of books, and only habit dulls this feeling in us. Each book is a mummy of the soul, dressed in funerary clothes made of leather and printing ink.
Behind the binding of any real book lies, as it were, the essence of a living person.
Life is too short to read in the original if there is a good translation.
Nowadays, cheap paperbacks and public libraries have made it too easy to read. It is human nature to underestimate what one gets without effort.
A man must keep the little attic of his brain full of what may be urgently needed, and put the rest away in the spacious closet of his library, from which he can retrieve it whenever he pleases.
A person skilled in logic is able to draw a conclusion about the possibilities of the Atlantic or Niagara from a single drop of water, even without ever having seen or heard either an ocean or a waterfall.
Building theories before receiving information is a major mistake.
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
It has long been an axiom for me that the most important thing is in the small details.
The further we move forward, the greater our potential to move forward.
Only a fool can imagine that if you train a person to be a coward in peacetime, then in war he will behave like a lion.
If you exclude the impossible, what remains will be the truth, no matter how incredible it may seem.
Singularity is almost always the key to solving a mystery.
The simpler the crime, the more difficult it is to get to the truth.
The strange and the mysterious should not be confused.
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; only talent can recognize genius.
There is only one step from funny to terrible.
Where there is no imagination, there is no fear.
There is nothing more deceptive than too obvious facts.
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