It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

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For strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.

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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.

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You will, I am sure, agree with me that... if page 534 only finds us in the second chapter, the length of the first one must have been really intolerable.

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I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children.

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