“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.”

“I can never bring you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace.”

“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.”

“So unworldly was he--or so capricious--that he frequently refused his help to the powerful and wealthy where the problem made no appeal to his sympathies, while he would devote weeks of most intense application to the affairs of some humble client whose case presented those strange and dramatic qualities which appealed to his imagination and challenged his ingenuity.”

“I would not bring one shadow on his life, and this I know would break his noble heart.”

“My dear fellow, you may laugh, but I give you my word that I shall be very glad to have you back safe and sound in Baker Street once more.

“I had the Irish faculty of seeing some gleam of humor in every darkness.”

“Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.”

“better to be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother”

“It is decreed by a merciful Nature that the human brain cannot think of two things simultaneously, so that if it be steeped in curiosity as to science it has no room for merely personal considerations.”

“Several times during the last three years I have taken up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray my secret.”

“When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it.”

“The setting is a worthy one, if the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men.”

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

“What is out of the common is usually a guide rather than a hindrance.”

“Very sorry to knock you up, Watson,' said he [Holmes], 'but it is a common lot this morning. Mrs Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you.”

“I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite variety.”

“It was a net from which it seemed to me, a few hours ago, that there was no possible escape. But he had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to stop. He wished to improve that which was already perfect . . . and so he ruined all.”

“If my future were black, it was better surely to face it like a man than to attempt to brighten it by mere will-o'-wisps of the imagination.”

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

“I am sure that it is the truth.”

“His knowledge was greater than his wisdom, and his powers were far superior to his character.”

“Yes, it is an interesting instance of a throwback, which appears to be both physical and spiritual.”

“I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty.”

“Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed?”