Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them.

Anything seems commonplace, once explained.

It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognise out of a number of facts which are incidental and which are vital.

You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!" It was worth a wound -- it was worth many wounds -- to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.

The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive.

In shape they were like horrible toads, and moved in a succession of springs, but in size they were of an incredible bulk, larger than the largest elephant. We had never before seen them save at night, and indeed they are nocturnal animals save when disturbed in their lairs, as these had been. We now stood amazed at the sight, for their blotched and warty skins were of a curious fish-like iridescence, and the sunlight struck them with an ever-varying rainbow bloom as they moved.