WIST Quotations

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- “A Scandal in Bohemia” [Holmes] (1891)

Dave — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:02:49 +0000

I have no data yet. 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.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
“A Scandal in Bohemia” [Holmes] (1891)

Full text. Sometimes conflated with "No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit -- destructive to the logical faculty." from The Sign of the Four.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- “The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” Strand Magazine (Mar 1923)

Dave — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 22:50:12 +0000

It was one Sunday evening early in September of the year 1903 that I received one of Holmes’s laconic messages: “Come at once if convenient — if inconvenient come all the same. S.H.'”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
“The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” Strand Magazine (Mar 1923)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- “The Dancing Men” [Sherlock Holmes], The Strand Magazine (Dec 1903)

Dave — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 22:41:55 +0000

I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the moment of action to enter into long and complex explanations.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
“The Dancing Men” [Sherlock Holmes], The Strand Magazine (Dec 1903)
(Source)

Reprinted as "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, ch. 3 (1905).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- “The Five Orange Pips,” The Strand (Nov 1891)

Dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 20:27:29 +0000

A man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
“The Five Orange Pips,” The Strand (Nov 1891)
(Source)

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- The Hound of the Baskervilles, ch. 3 [Holmes] (1901-02)

Dave — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:14:38 +0000

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
The Hound of the Baskervilles, ch. 3 [Holmes] (1901-02)
(Source)

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- In The American Bee Keeper (May 1895)

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 16:51:53 +0000

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hopes hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go for a good spin down the road, without thought of anything but the ride you are taking.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
In The American Bee Keeper (May 1895)

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Journal of Arctic voyage (11 Jul 1880)

Dave — Wed, 26 May 2021 21:06:40 +0000

Got up late and would have liked to have got up later, which is a sad moral state to be in.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Journal of Arctic voyage (11 Jul 1880)
(Source)

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Journal of Arctic voyage (19 Jul 1880)

Dave — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 22:25:08 +0000

Blowing a gale all day. Nothing to do and we did it.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Journal of Arctic voyage (19 Jul 1880)
(Source)

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 23:01:39 +0000

You see, 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. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. 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.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Connected to this passage.

Published in novel form 1888-07. See also "The Five Orange Pips."

In the Sherlock TV episode 01x03 "The Great Game" (w. Mark Gatiss) (2010-08-08), this explanation is reworked:

SHERLOCK: Listen: (points to his head) This is my hard-drive, and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful. Really useful. Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish, and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters! Do you see?

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:54:22 +0000

Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault, they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can’t unravel the thousand and first.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Watson], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 23:31:09 +0000

I had no idea that such individuals exist outside of stories.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Watson], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Watson to Holmes, comparing him to Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin (a comparison that Holmes sniffs at).

Published in novel form 1888-07.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:34:09 +0000

“You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan.”
“You were told, no doubt.”
“Nothing of the sort. I knew you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, ‘Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.’ The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Holmes and Watson. Published in novel form 1888-07.

In the Sherlock TV episode 01x01 "A Study in Pink" (w. Steven Moffat) (2010-07-25), this explanation is reworked:

HOLMES: When I met you for the first time yesterday, I said "Afghanistan or Iraq?" You looked surprised.
WATSON: How did you know?
HOLMES: I didn't know, I saw. Your haircut, the way you hold yourself, says military. But your conversation as you entered the room said trained at Bart's, so army doctor. Obvious. Your face is tanned, but no tan above the wrists: you've been abroad but not sunbathing. The limp's really bad when you walk, but you don't ask for a chair when you stand, like you've forgotten about it, so it's at least partly psychosomatic. That says the original circumstances of the injury were probably traumatic: wounded in action, then. Wounded in action, suntan: Afghanistan or Iraq.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 23:03:42 +0000

My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. […] “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.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Watson speaking of and with Holmes. This passage is followed by this one.

Published in novel form 1888-07.

In the Sherlock TV episode 01x03 "The Great Game" (w. Mark Gatiss) (2010-08-08), this explanation is reworked (including this analogous passage):

HOLMES: Look, it doesn't matter to me who's Prime Minister, or who's sleeping with whom --
WATSON: Or that the earth goes around the sun.
HOLMES: Oh God, that again! It's not important!
WATSON: Not important? It's primary school stuff! How can you not know that?
HOLMES: Well, if I ever did, I've deleted it.
WATSON: "Deleted it"?
HOLMES: Listen: (points to his head) This is my hard-drive, and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful. Really useful. Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish, and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters! Do you see?
WATSON: (brief silence) But it's the solar system!
HOLMES: Oh, hell! What does that matter?! So we go around the sun! If we went around the moon or round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference! All that matters to me is the work!

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 20:02:18 +0000

It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Published in novel form 1888-07.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 23:58:11 +0000

“You don’t seem to give much thought to the matter in hand,” I said at last, interrupting Holmes’s musical disquisition.
“No data yet,” he answered. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgement.”

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:47:22 +0000

“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,” he [Holmes] remarked with a smile. “It’s a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Published in novel form 1888-07.

The quotation is usually attributed to Scottish historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle, but is a misquote of what he says on the subject, in his History of Frederick the Great [Friedrich the Second], Vol. 1, Book 4, ch. 3 (1858–65) (emphasis mine):

The good plan itself, this comes not of its own accord; it is the fruit of "genius" (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all); given a huge stack of tumbled thrums, it is not in your sleep that you will find the vital centre of it, or get the first thrum by the end!

Thrums, by the way, are the ends of the warp threads in a loom which remain unwoven attached to the loom when the web is cut, or more loosely a collection of leftover thread or yarn.

The "infinite capacity" phrase is sometimes misattributed to Samuel Johnson.

See more discussion here.

Interestingly, Holmes, in the same story, earlier claims not to know Carlyle's works, though he here supposedly quotes him.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 4 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 23:48:37 +0000

I’m not going to tell you much more of the case, Doctor. You know a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 4 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Published in novel form 1888-07.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 2, ch. 7 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:08:59 +0000

“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,” returned my companion, bitterly. “The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done?”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 2, ch. 7 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

After the police had taken credit for the capture of the murderer.

Published in novel form 1888-07.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)

Dave — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:57:28 +0000

Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)
(Source)

Critiquing Watson's writing in A Study in Scarlet (1887). More on Euclid's Fifth Proposition here.

The original publication, and Doyle's manuscript (along with many other iterations across media) use "The Sign of the Four" as the title, while others (including the first book publications) use "The Sign of Four." The five-word form is used most commonly in the story, but the four-word form does show up. (More info.)

Published in novel form as The Sign of Four (1890-10).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)

Dave — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:25:49 +0000

No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit, — destructive to the logical faculty.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)
(Source)

The original publication, and Doyle's manuscript (along with many other iterations across media) use "The Sign of the Four" as the title, while others (including the first book publications) use "The Sign of Four." The five-word form is used most commonly in the story, but the four-word form does show up. (More info.)

Published in novel form as The Sign of Four (1890-10).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1, Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:47:28 +0000

“Which is it to-day,” I asked, “morphine or cocaine?”
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. “It is cocaine,” he said, “a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1, Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)
(Source)

Watson and Holmes.

The original publication, and Doyle's manuscript (along with many other iterations across media) use "The Sign of the Four" as the title, while others (including the first book publications) use "The Sign of Four." The five-word form is used most commonly in the story, but the four-word form does show up. (More info.)

Published in novel form as The Sign of Four (1890-10).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 6 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 6 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)
(Source)

The first appearance of the phrase in its most quoted form. However, earlier in the story, chapter 1, Holmes tells Watson:

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

Similar expressions occur in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ("The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"), The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ("Silver Blaze"), The Return of Sherlock Holmes ("The Adventure of the Priory School"), His Last Bow ("The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"), and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes ("The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier").

The original publication, and Doyle's manuscript (along with many other iterations across media) use "The Sign of the Four" as the title, while others (including the first book publications) use "The Sign of Four." The five-word form is used most commonly in the story, but the four-word form does show up. (More info.)

Published in novel form as The Sign of Four (1890-10).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1923-03), “The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” The Strand Magazine, Vol 65

Dave — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 23:30:41 +0000

The relations between us in those latter days were peculiar. He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them. As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1923-03), “The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” The Strand Magazine, Vol 65
(Source)

Watson on his relationship with Holmes.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1923-03), “The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” The Strand Magazine, Vol 65

Dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:15:48 +0000

It was one Sunday evening early in September of the year 1902 that I received one of Holmes’s laconic messages: “Come at once if convenient — if inconvenient come all the same. — S. H.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1923-03), “The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” The Strand Magazine, Vol 65
(Source)