“You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist out of stories.”

“All my instincts are one way, and all the facts are the other, and I much fear that British juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to my theories over Lestrade's facts.”

“Watson,' said he, 'if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.”

“Who are you, then?” “My name is Sherlock Holmes.” “Good Lord!” “You have heard of me, I see.”

“But the Solar System!” I protested. “What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently; “you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.”

“It might have driven me mad; but I was always a pretty stubborn one, so I just held on and bided my time.”

“In my inmost heart I believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the opportunity to test myself.”

“By my soul! I would rather have a dry death," quoth Sir Oliver. "Though, Mort Dieu! I have eaten so many fish that it were but justice that the fish should eat me.”

“It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery.”

“There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world.”

“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.”

“Though unmusical, German is the most expressive of all languages,”

“Take a pinch of snuff, doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.”

“For strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.”

“Men of character always differentiate their long letters, however illegibly they may write. - Sherlock Holmes”

“We give you best, Holmes. I believe you are the devil himself.”

“My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser.”

“There are some trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height, and then suddenly develop some unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often in humans.”

“My instincts are all against a woman being too frank and at her ease with me. It is no compliment to a man.”

“My dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic.”

“...I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present.”

“It was easier to know it than to explain why I knew it.”

“It was worth a wound - it was worth many wounds - to know the depth of loyalty and love that lay behind that cold mask.”

“When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. The highest type of man may revert to the animal if he leaves the straight road of destiny.”

“Nothing is little to a great mind.”

“My brain has always governed my heart" Sherlock Holmes”

“Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

“The weak man becomes strong when he has nothing, for then only can he feel the wild, mad thrill of despair.”

“My mind rebels at stagnation.”

“Patience, my friend, patience! You will find in time that it has everything to do with it.”

“If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you.”

“It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn.”

“Some people without possesing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it”

“Who knows, Watson? Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to the male.”

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgement.”

“The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man.”

“Every problem becomes very childish when once it is explained to you.”

“We can’t command our love, but we can our actions.”

“How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise.”

“Yes, the setting (Dartmoor) is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men.

“Look at you. Why is the only woman you ever cared about a world-class criminal - are you a masochist?”

“Exactly. Since it is morally justifiable, I have only to consider the question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much stress upon this, when a lady is in most desperate need of his help?”

“It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.”

“Suddenly the dreamer disappeared, and Holmes, the man of action, sprang from his chair.”

“Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

“Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences.\”

“To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces. The sea air, sunshine, and patience, Watson—all else will come.”

“I consider that a man’s brain is originally like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge that might be useful to him gets crowded out.”

“As he stood by the desolate fire, he felt that the only one thing which could assuage his grief would be thorough and complete retribution, brought by his own hand upon his enemies.”

“I should have more faith. I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.”