It is a fool's plan to teach a man to be a cur in peace, and think that he will be a lion in war.

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before.

I never can resist a touch of the dramatic.

You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.

We balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination.

I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.

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