Sherlock Holmes

• How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
  • The Sign of Four
  • also stated as:
    • "Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth." — The Sign of Four
    • It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. — The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
    • When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. — The Adventure of The Blanched Soldier
    • We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. — The Adventure of Bruce-Partington Plans
    • Improbable as it is, all other explanations are more improbable still. — Silver Blaze
    • It is impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. — The Adventure of The Priory School

• It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
  • A Scandal in Bohemia
  • also stated as:
    • It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment. — A Study in Scarlet

• "Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
  • The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

• You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.
  • ''The Boscombe Valley Mystery
  • also stated as:
    • I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles.
      • The Adventure of The Lion's Mane
    • It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles.
      • The Man with the Twisted Lip

• Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs.
  • The Adventure of the Three Students

• That the dog should die was after the beautiful, faithful nature of dogs.
  • The Adventure of The Lion's Mane

• Dogs don't make mistakes.
  • The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place

• There is but one step from the grotesque to the horrible.
  • The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge

• Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.
  • The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

• I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go.
  • The Adventure of The Three Gables

• The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Illustrated