Sherlock Holmes

• It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.
  • A Study in Scarlet'' (1887)
    • Variant: It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. ~ A Scandal in Bohemia (1891)

• What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe that you have done.
  • A Study in Scarlet (1887)

• London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
  • A Study in Scarlet (1887)

• How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
  • The Sign of Four (1890)
  • Variants on this theme:
    • Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth. ~ The Sign of Four (1890)
    • It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ~ The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (1892)
    • Improbable as it is, all other explanations are more improbable still. ~ Silver Blaze (1892)
    • It is impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. ~ The Adventure of The Priory School (1904)
    • We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ~ The Adventure of Bruce-Partington Plans (1908)
    • When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ~ The Adventure of The Blanched Soldier (1926)
    • Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. ~ Unknown

• Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.
  • A Case of Identity (1891)

• There is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.
  • A Case of Identity (1891)

• The little things are infinitely more important.
  • A Case of Identity (1891)

• You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.
  • ''The Boscombe Valley Mystery (1891)
  • Variants:
    • It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles.
      • The Man with the Twisted Lip (1891)
    • I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles.
      • The Adventure of The Lion's Mane (1926)

• "Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
  • The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (1892)

• What one man can invent another can discover.
  • The Adventure of the Dancing Men (1903)

• So you can put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Busybody Holmes!
  • The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (1903)

• Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.
  • The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (1904)

• Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs.
  • The Adventure of the Three Students (1904)

• There is but one step from the grotesque to the horrible.
  • The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge (1908)

• There should be no combination of events for which the wit of man cannot conceive an explanation.
  • The Valley of Fear (1914-1915)

• Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.
  • The Valley of Fear (1914-1915)

• That the dog should die was after the beautiful, faithful nature of dogs.
  • The Adventure of The Lion's Mane (1926)

• I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go.
  • The Adventure of The Three Gables (1926)

• Dogs don't make mistakes.
  • The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place (1927)

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