Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.

Critics kind never mind! Critics flatter no matter! Critics blame all the same! Do your best damn the rest!

If my future were black, it was better surely to face it like a man than to attempt to brighten it by mere will-o’-the-wisps of the imagination.

Watson. Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.

Far away on the path we saw Sir Henry looking back, his face white in the moonlight, his hands raised in horror, glaring helplessly at the frightful thing which was hunting him down. But that cry of pain from the hound had blown all our fears to the winds. If he was vulnerable he was mortal, and if we could wound him we could kill him. Never have I seen a man run as Holmes ran that night.

As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.

Picnics are very dear to those who are in the first stage of the tender passion.