when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.
Watson. Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.
My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know.
What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.
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.
I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix.
It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.
Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?
My dear Watson," said [Sherlock Holmes], "I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.
Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details.
presume nothing
You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.
There's a light in a woman's eyes that speaks louder than words.
Data!data!data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay.
They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains
Picnics are very dear to those who are in the first stage of the tender passion.
There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less and a cleaner, better stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.
There are times, young fellah, when every one of us must make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feel clean again.
Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there.
…but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.
But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things.
The chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.
One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature