The chief proof of man’s real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.

You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.

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...

Moriarty: . . .everything I have to say has already crossed your mind.

A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman’s love, however badly he may have treated her.

By the way, Doctor, I shall want your cooperation.”I shall be delighted.”You don’t mind breaking the law?”Not in the least.”Nor running a chance of arrest?”Not in a good cause.”Oh, the cause is excellent!”Then I am...

It is, I admit, mere imagination; but how often is imagination the mother of truth?

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

I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix.

You have been in Afghanistan I perceive.

You know,’ I answered, with some emotion, for I had never seen so much of Holmes’ heart before, ‘that it is my greatest joy and privilege to help you.

The statesman received us with that old-fashioned courtesy for which he is remarkable, and seated us on the two luxuriant lounges on either side of the fireplace. Standing on the rug between us, with his...

You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges...

There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more...

To his eyes all seemed beautiful, but to me a tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside, which bore so clearly the mark of the waning year, Yellow leaves carpeted the lanes and fluttered down...

It is fortunate for this community that I am not a criminal.

Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary,” said he.

…Recognising, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe–“”Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?” Asked Holmes, with some asperity.”To the man of precised, scientific...

Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician.

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,...

It is a pity he did not write in pencil. As you have no doubt frequently observed, the impression usually goes through — a fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage.

My correspondence has certainly the charm of variety, and the humbler are usually the more interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or...

There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest...

You yourself may not be luminous, but you are a conductor of light.

I say, Watson,’ he whispered, ‘would you be afraid to sleep in the same room as a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?’‘Not in the...

You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?””For me,” said Sherlock Holmes, “there still remains the cocaine-bottle.” And...

I should prefer that you do not mention my name at all in connection with this case, as I choose to be only associated with those crimes which present some difficulty in their solution.

Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.

I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake.- Watson

One likes to think that there is some fantastic limbo for the children of imagination, some strange, impossible place where the beaux of Fielding may still make love to the belles of Richardson, where Scott’s...

Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.

There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.

The more outré and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined.

You’re too late. She’s my wife.””No, she’s your widow.”His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front of Woodley’s waistcoat. He spun round with a scream and fell upon his back, his...

When once your point of view is changed, the very thing which was so damning becomes a clue to the truth.

The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?

Jealousy is a strange transformer of characters.

Oh how I’ve missed you, Holmes.

There are no crimes and no criminals in these days. What is the use of having brains in our profession? I know well that I have it in me to make my name famous. No...

Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last.

I have taken to living by my wits.

The most common place crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or specific features from which deductions may be drawn

I follow my own methods, and tell as much or as little as I choose. That is the advantage of being unofficial.

Dr. Watson’s summary list of Sherlock Holmes’s strengths and weaknesses:”1. Knowledge of Literature: Nil.2. Knowledge of Philosophy: Nil.3. Knowledge of Astronomy: Nil.4. Knowledge of Politics: Feeble.5. Knowledge of Botany: Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium,...

Anything is better than stagnation.

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

Everything I have to say has already crossed your mind.””Then possibly my answer has crossed yours.

I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and...

I cannot at the moment recall any possible blunder which you have omitted. From His Last Bow

The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only know how to use it.