Buy: The Sherlockian
by Graham Moore
by Graham Moore“I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours.” Arthur Conan Doyle
“I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
“My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four
“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.” Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet
“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear
“Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes up and gives Dr. Watson a nudge. "Watson" he says, "look up in the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions of stars, Holmes," says Watson.
"And what do you conclude from that, Watson?"
Watson thinks for a moment. "Well," he says, "astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meterologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignficant. Uh, what does it tell you, Holmes?"
"Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!” Thomas Cathcart
“Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.” Anthony Horowitz, The House of Silk
“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, The Sign of Four
“To a great mind, nothing is little.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“That head of yours should be for use as well as ornament.” Arthur Conan Doyle
“If you must be Sherlock Holmes," she observed, "I'll get you a nice little syringe and a bottle labelled cocaine, but for God's sake leave that violin alone.” Agatha Christie
“Jesus Christ—”
“Sherlock Holmes, actually. And you were doing such a good job remembering my name.” Eva Morgan, Locked
“Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson.” The Return of Sherlock Holmes
“Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.” The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
“There's a light in a woman's eyes that speaks louder than words.” The Hound of the Baskervilles
“The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.” Arthur Conan Doyle
“The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only know how to use it.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
“Do you remember," he said, "one of Holmes's little scores over Watson about the number of steps up to the Baker Street lodging? Poor old Watson had been up and down them a thousand times, but he had never thought of counting them, whereas Holmes had counted them as a matter of course, and knew that there were seventeen. And that was supposed to be the difference between observation and non-observation. Watson was crushed again, and Holmes appeared to him more amazing than ever. Now, it always seemed to me that in that matter Holmes was the ass, and Watson the sensible person. What on earth is the point of keeping in your head an unnecessary fact like that? If you really want to know at any time the number of steps to your lodging, you can ring up your landlady and ask her.” A.A. Milne, The Red House Mystery
“But there can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson...Shall they not always live in Baker Street? Are they not there this moment, as one writes? Outside, the hansoms rattle through the rain, and Moriarty plans his latest devilry. Within, the sea-coal flames upon the hearth and Holmes and Watson take their well-won case...So they still live for all that love them well; in a romantic chamber of the heart, in a nostalgic country of the mind, where it is always 1895.” Vincent Starrett, The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes
“A Dickens character to me is a theatrical projection of a character. Not that it isn't real. It's real, but in that removed sense. But Sherlock Holmes is simply there. I would be astonished if I went to 221 1/2 B Baker Street and didn't find him." Rex Stout
“Watson is a cheap, efficient little sod of a literary device. Holmes doesn't need him to solve crimes any more than he needs a ten-stone ankle weight. The audience, Arthur. The audience needs Watson as an intermediary, so that Holmes's thoughts might be forever kept just out of reach. If you told stories from Holmes's perspective, everyone would know what the bleeding genius was thinking the whole time. They'd have the culprit fingered on page one.” Graham Moore, The Sherlockian
“To me, detective stories are a great solace, a sort of mental knitting, where it doesn't matter if you drop a stitch." Rupert Hart-Davis
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
“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, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
6. Knowledge of Geology: Practical but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
7. Knowledge of Chemistry: Profound.
8. Knowledge of Anatomy: Accurate but unsystematic.
9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature: Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.” Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet
Ben Garrett: How do you do all that?
Sherlock: I was bitten by a radioactive detective. (Elementary TV Series)
Edgar Allan Poe, who, in his carelessly prodigal fashion, threw out the seeds from which so many of our present forms of literature have sprung, was the father of the detective tale, and covered its limits so completely that I fail to see how his followers can find any fresh ground which they can confidently call their own. For the secret of the thinness and also of the intensity of the detective story is, that the writer is left with only one quality, that of intellectual acuteness, with which to endow his hero. Everything else is outside the picture and weakens the effect. The problem and its solution must form the theme, and the character-drawing be limited and subordinate. On this narrow path the writer must walk, and he sees the footmarks of Poe always in front of him. He is happy if he ever finds the means of breaking away and striking out on some little side-track of his own. A. Conan Doyle
Irene Adler: Why are you always so suspicious?
Sherlock Holmes: Should I answer chronologically or alphabetically? (Sherlock Holmes movie 2009)
See also The Best Victorian Literature, Over 100 Books on DVDrom
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