872 Quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle

This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward.

I must really apologize, Hopkins,” said Sherlock Holmes. “I fear that the scrambled eggs are cold. However, you will enjoy the rest of your breakfast all the better, will you not, for the thought that you have brought your case to a triumphant conclusion.

Things are always easier when imagination ceases and action begins.

Give me your details, and from an armchair I will return you an excellent expert opinion.

It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

It is not what we know, but what we can prove.

What is the meaning of it, Watson? said Holmes solemnly as he laid down the paper. “What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.

The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor.

Several incidents in my life have convinced me of spiritual interposition – of the promptings of some beneficent force outside ourselves, which tries to help us where it can.