"I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research."

"To underestimate oneself is as much an exaggeration of one's powers than the other."

"The cheese-mites asked how the cheese got there, And warmly debated the matter; The Orthodox said that it came from the air, And the Heretics said from the platter. They argued it long and they argued it strong, And I hear they are arguing now; But of all the choice spirits who lived in the cheese, Not one of them thought of a cow."

"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."

"There is nothing more unaesthetic than a policeman."

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

"Some friend of yours, perhaps?""Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage visitors."

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

"Some believe what separates men from animals is our ability to reason. Others say it's language or romantic love, or opposable thumbs. Living here in this lost world, I've come to believe it is more than our biology. What truly makes us human is our unending search, our abiding desire for immortality."

"Accounts are not quite settled between us," said she, with a passion that equaled my own. "I can love, and I can hate. You had your choice. You chose to spurn the first; now you must test the other."

"It is easy to be wise after the event."

"There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the nether world."

"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."

"A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony."

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

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

"I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for everything that I do."

"The charlatan is always the pioneer... The quack of yesterday is the professor of tomorrow."

"The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when [Holmes] became a specialist in crime."

"Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to use all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment."

"I am afraid that I rather give myself away when I explain," said he. "Results without causes are much more impressive."

"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. This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outré and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable. These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so."

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

"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. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer- excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained observer to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his."

"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.' 'The dog did nothing in the night-time.''That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes."

"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."

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

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

"It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own."

"Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar of laughter."

"His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge."

"The mighty voice of Canada will ever call to me."

"The big blank spaces in the map are all being filled in, and there's no room for romance anywhere."

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

"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius."

"Sir Walter, with his 61 years of life, although he never wrote a novel until he was over 40, had, fortunately for the world, a longer working career than most of his brethren."

"Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting."