No violence, gentlemen — no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!

There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.

Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some feeling which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a few yards of her.

Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.

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

I have mastered the principles of several religions. They have all shocked me by the violence which I should have to do to my reason to accept the dogmas of any one of them.

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.