...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and one a moorland farmer, who all tell the same story of this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell-hound of the legend. I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district, and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night.

This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie.

It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.

The best way of successfully acting a part is to be it.

Healthy scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation.

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

There is no scent so pleasant to my nostrils as that faint, subtle reek which comes from an ancient book.