Well, sir, let us do what we can to curtail this visit, which can hardly be agreeable to you, and is inexpressibly irksome to me.

There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done.

When you have one of the first brains of Europe up against you, and all the powers of darkness at his back, there are infinite possibilities.

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

Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures us of the weakness of self-satisfaction.

Data!data!data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay.

I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.