50+ Best Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes From The 'Sherlock' Author

Moumita Dutta
Dec 12, 2023 By Moumita Dutta
Originally Published on Feb 24, 2021
Edited by Jacob Fitzbright
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Arthur Conan Doyle portrait

Arthur Conan Doyle was a British author who is best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant detective. And his maker was also a genius who is loved by many.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the man behind the immortal Sherlock Holmes and many other amazing characters like John Watson and Moriarty. His best-known books consist of 'A Study In Scarlet', 'The Lost World' and many more. Here are a few famous Arthur Conan Doyle quotes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book quotes that you are going to love.

If you enjoy this article, be sure to check out similar articles that you'll like Sherlock Holmes quotes and Agatha Christie quotes.

Best Sherlock Holmes Book Quotes

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Sherlock Holmes is a British detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He, along with his friend Dr. John Watson solve crimes all over London and England. You might know the legendary "Elementary!"

quote by Sherlock. But there are a lot more quotes by the brilliant detective that prove his power of deduction. Here are some quotes by Sherlock Holmes that will give you chills.

1. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Sign Of The Four'.

2. "You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Man With The Twisted Lip'.

3. "Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Adventure Of The Empty House'.

4. "I never guess. It is a shocking habit,- destructive to the logical faculty."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Sign Of The Four'.

5. "It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles'.

6. "Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'A Case Of Identity'.

7. "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Science Of Deduction'.

8. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Man With The Twisted Lip'.

9. "I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Return Of Sherlock Holmes'.

10. "There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Hound  Of The Baskervilles'.

11. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery'.

12. "Watson. Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Adventure  Of The Creeping Man'.

13. "There are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Red-Headed League'.

14. "When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Adventure  Of The Speckled Band'.

15. "A trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Man With The Twisted Lip'.

16. "My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Red-Headed League'.

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

- Sherlock Holmes, 'His Last Bow'.

18. "As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Red Headed League'.

19."Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Speckled Band'.

20. "A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Sign Of The Four'.

More Sherlock Holmes Quotes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Doyle is famous for his creation of Sherlock. But he's not the only feather on the writer's cap. Here are a few quotes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters that you are going to love.

21. "London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained."

- Dr. John Watson, 'A Study in Scarlet'.

22. "You see, but you do not observe."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'A Scandal In Bohemia'.

23. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle'.

24. "There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'A Study In Scarlet'.

25. "We can't command our love, but we can our actions."

- Mrs. Moulton, 'The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor'.

26. "It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Final Problem'.

27. "Our ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature."

- Sherlock Holmes, 'A Study In Scarlet'.

28. "His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge."

- John Watson, 'A Study In Scarlet'.

29. "My dear Holmes, this is too much. You would certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago."

- Dr. John Watson, 'A Scandal In Bohemia'.

30. "Of all ruins, that of a noble mind is the most deplorable."

- Dr. John Watson, 'The Adventure Of The Dying Detective'.

'The Lost World' Quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle

This science fiction and adventure novel gave birth to Professor Challenger. Arthur Conan Doyle's most celebrated character after Sherlock. The narrator and Professor Challenger go on a journey on which the book is based. Here are a few quotes from 'The Lost World' that you will enjoy.

31. "There are times, young fellah, when every one of us must make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feel clean again."

- Lord John Roxton, 'The Lost World'.

32. "Brain, character, soul—only as one sees more of life does one understand how distinct is each."

- Mr. Malone, 'The Lost World'.

33. "There are strange red depths in the soul of the most commonplace man."

- Mr. Malone, 'The Lost World'.

34. "You really touch the limit, you enlarge my view of the possible. Cerebral paresis! Mental inertia! Wonderful!

- Professor Challenger, 'The Lost World'.

35. "Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunae by some measure of primitive common sense."

- Professor Challenger, 'The Lost World'.

36. "You seem very anxious to lose your life."

-McArdle, 'The Lost World'.

37. "He was too absurd to make me angry. Indeed, it was a waste of energy, for if you were going to be angry with this man you would be angry all the time."

- Mr. Malone, 'The Lost World'.

Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes From His Essays And Interviews

Here are some fascinating Arthur Conan Doyle quotes from his essays and interviews providing insight into his spectral encounters and writing process.

38. "Let me say, in the first instance, that in a long life which has touched every side of humanity, Houdini is far and away the most curious and intriguing character whom I have ever encountered."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Riddle Of Houdini'.

39. "There is nothing more wonderful, more incredible, and at the same time, as it seems to me, more certain, than that past events may leave a record upon our surroundings which is capable of making itself felt, heard, or seen for a long time afterwards."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Shadows On The Screen'.

40. "A sensitive mind is easily affected in any place where there has been recent trouble."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Shadows On The Screen'.

41. "If a sensitive is able to feel some record of a past event, then there is evidence that by an extension of this process one who is still more sensitive would actually see the person who left the impression."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Shadows On The Screen'.

42. "If anyone craves for adventure, he will find it in psychic work."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Ghost Of The Moat'.

43.

"It is safe to say that for some centuries to come the human race will be very actively engaged in defining the laws which regulate psychic affairs, and it is fortunately a line of study which has the peculiar advantage to those who indulge in it that they can pursue it just as well, and probably better, from the other side of the veil."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Law Of The Ghost'.

44. "My experiences with mediums, good, bad and indifferent, are probably as wide as those of any living man."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'Some Curious Personal Experiences'.

45. "It seems to me that our knowledge of the ether vibrations which govern wireless are a great help to us in this connection, and that we can readily understand now what would have been incomprehensible, because there was no existing analogy, a few years ago."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'Dwellers On The Border'.

46. "There are many people who have a recollection of these experiences of their youth and try afterwards to explain them away on material grounds which do not seem adequate or reasonable."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'Dwellers On The Border'.

47. "When one finds that a philsophy is obscure, and when one fails after an earnest effort to get it clear, one may usually conclude that the teacher is also obscure and that the subject has not been clearly thought out."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A Strange Prophet'.

48. "There are more subtle temptations than those of wealth."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A Remarkable Man'.

49. "Psychic science, though still in its infancy, has already reached a point where we can dissect many of those occurrences which were regarded as inexplicable in past ages."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A New Light On Old Crimes'.

50. "No psychic explanation can be accepted in any case until all reasonable normal solutions have been exhausted."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A New Light On Old Crimes'.

51. "My people on the father’s side we all artists of a peculiarly imaginative type."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, Interview with Bram Stoker.

52. "It is not only that she was—is still—a wonderful story-teller, but she had, I remember, an art of sinking her voice to a horror-stricken whisper when she came to a crisis in her narrative."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, Interview with Bram Stoker.

53. "I was no good at either classics or mathematics; even my English I wrote as pleasure, not as work."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, Interview with Bram Stoker.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Arthur Conan Doyle quotes then why not take a look at Robert Louis Stevenson quotes, or Edgar Allan Poe quotes?

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Written by Moumita Dutta

Bachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management

Moumita Dutta picture

Moumita DuttaBachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management

A content writer and editor with a passion for sports, Moumita has honed her skills in producing compelling match reports and stories about sporting heroes. She holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta University, alongside a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management.

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