His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to me to be such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. You appear to be astonished, he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. To forget it! You see, he explained, I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones. But the Solar System! I protested. What the deuce is it to me? he interrupted impatiently: you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Related That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travele... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politic... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE What the deuce is it to me? he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we wen... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE SR. What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently: "you say that we go round the sun. If we we... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give... JAMES C. DOBSON 38. “A wet bird never flies at night.” (My grandfather said that to me when I was a child and wa... JAMES C. DOBSON What is it that makes you so angry, bothers you so deeply, that you're compelled to act? CRAIG GROESCHEL And who talks of error now? 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SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, an... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, an... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE SR. A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, an... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, SR. I did not run to him, but I did wrap my arms around him, press my ear to his chest, hold on to him a... LAURELL K. HAMILTON Might I,” quavered Mary, “might I have a bit of earth?” In her eagerness she did no... FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT He was talking about the sign that said 'THE COMPLICATED FUTILITY OF IGNORANCE.' 'All knew was ... KURT VONNEGUT He stopped and took my hand. "If we die, or if I die..." He was speaking of dying, and I couldn... GAIL CARSON LEVINE He was without any comforts of God — no feeling that God loved him — no feeling that God pi... 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BIBLE Stop fighting me!" he said, trying to pull on the arm he held. He was in a precarious pos... RICHELLE MEAD Laden with all these new possessions, I go and sit at a table. And don't ask me what the table was l... DOUGLAS ADAMS Who told you that?" I say. "Davy Prentiss?" He blinks. "What?" "What do you mean what PATRICK NESS My father gave me a ruined boy to compensate for the fact that he does not love me. The ... BRENNA YOVANOFF Yes,' he said, 'a list. That way, I figure, we'll have a written record of what we've agreed upon as... SARAH DESSEN Start by pulling him out of the fire and hoping that he will forget the smell. He was supp... CAITLYN SIEHL He wanted you to be the small, quiet girl from Abnegation," Four says softly. "He hurt you because y... VERONICA ROTH It is not at all a fit place for you ," said Clementina. "Gently, my lady. It is a ... GEORGE MACDONALD I'll tell you what you can do," he said, stopping abruptly. Now he did reach out to grip both my sho... 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More Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE All other men are specialists, but his specialty is omniscience. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more d... SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good... SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing more unaesthetic than a policeman. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profou... SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in trea... 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Knowledge of... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire. A fool always finds a greater fool to ad... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the sm... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE For strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far mo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You will, I am sure, agree with me that... if page 534 only finds us in the second chapter, the leng... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The most difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless. 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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however imp... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake. - Watson ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The Times is a paper which is seldom found in any hands but those of the highly educated. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to sui... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is no scent so pleasant to my nostrils as that faint, subtle reek which comes from an ancient ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Well, Watson, what do you make of it?' Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn't we use a little art jargon? There's the scarlet thread of murd... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own. ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Everything I have to say has already crossed your mind." "Then possibly my answer has crossed y... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gig... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incide... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the a... 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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Era peor la herida... eran peor muchas heridas... que saber la profundidad de lealtad y amor que yac... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When will you be pleased to dine, Mr. Holmes?' Mrs. Hudson asked. 'Seven-thirty, the day after to-mo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE A fortune for one man that was more than he needed should not be built on ten thousand ruined men wh... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE . . . and meanwhile take my assurance that the clouds are lifting and that I have every hope that th... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE She entered with ungainly struggle like some huge awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE We give you best, Holmes. I believe you are the devil himself. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE One likes to think that there is some fantastic limbo for the children of imagination, some strange,... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE No ghosts need apply. - Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You are right," he cried with an immense sigh of relief. "It is quite superficial." His face set lik... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It was worth a wound--it was worth many wounds--to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behi... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is all in the way of professional experience. - Sherlock Holmes ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE All right, Watson. Don’t look so scared,” he muttered in a very weak voice. “It’s not as bad... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is a danger there - a very real danger to humanity. Consider, Watson, that the material, the s... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The ways of fate are indeed hard to understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then th... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures us of the weakness of self-satisf... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is a soul-jealousy that can be as frantic as any body-jealousy. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When once your point of view is changed, the very thing which was so damning becomes a clue to the t... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action I can recall in our... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Anything is better than stagnation. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Life, it turns out, is infinitely more clever and adaptable than anyone had ever supposed. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!" It was worth a wound -- it... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE presume nothing ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you s... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further beg you to be so unconventional ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Hom... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I should be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is a... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing. It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child b... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when [Holmes] became a speciali... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he i... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You see, but you do not observe ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE My correspondence has certainly the charm of variety, and the humbler are usually the more interesti... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to c... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Man, or at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little practice... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The charlatan is always the pioneer... The quack of yesterday is the professor of tomorrow. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Her cuisine is limited but she has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotchwoman."[Sh... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking int... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE To a great mind, nothing is little,' remarked Holmes, sententiously. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The game is afoot. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE You see, but you do not observe. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and su... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Some people's affability is more deadly than the violence of coarser souls. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Let me see—what are my other shortcomings? I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth fo... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There are no crimes and no criminals in these days. What is the use of having brains in our professi... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write above the level of his own eyes. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most m... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE To begin at the beginning. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politic... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Let me see. What are my other shortcomings? ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE