福尔摩斯语录英语

福尔摩斯语录英语

福尔摩斯语录英语

A Study in Scarlet (1888)

"London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and

idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained."

Part 1, chap. 1, p. 15

"Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the

matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer

begin by mastering more elementary problems."

Part 1, chap. 2, p. 23

"The theories which I have expressed there, and which

appear to you to be so chimerical, are really extremely practical

— so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and

cheese."

Part 1, chap. 2, pp. 23-24

"It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you

were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find

some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact."

Part 1, chap. 3, p. 26

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the

evidence. It biases the judgment."

Part 1, chap. 3, p. 27

See also The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "A Scandal in

Bohemia", below.

"They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,"

he remarked with a smile. "It's a very bad definition, but it does

apply to detective work."

Part 1, chap. 3, p. 31

"You know a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of

working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very

ordinary individual after all."

Part 1, chap. 4, p. 33

"What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,”

returned my companion, bitterly. “The question is, what can you

make people believe that you have done?"

Part 2, chap. 7, p. 83

"In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be

able to reason backward. That is a very useful accomplishment,

and a very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the

everyday affairs of life it is more useful to reason forward, and so

the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason

synthetically for one who can reason analytically."

Part 2, chap. 7, p. 83

"There is no branch of detective science which is so

important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps."

Part 2, chap. 7, p. 84

The Sign of the Four (1890)

"Which is it to-day," I asked, "morphine or co-ca-ine?"

He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume

which he had opened.

"It is co-ca-ine," he said, "a seven-per-cent solution. Would

you care to try it?"

Chap. 1, p. 89

"I have been guilty of several monographs. They are all upon

technical subjects. Here, for example, is one 'Upon the Distinction

between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccos'. In it I enumerate a

hundred and forty forms of cigar, cigarette, and pipe tobacco,

with coloured plates illustrating the difference in the ash." Chap. 1, p. 91

"Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must

be the truth."

Chap. 1, p. 92

For some similar formulations see The Sign of the Four, chap.

6; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the

Beryl Coronet"; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, "Silver Blaze";

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Priory

School"; His Last Bow, "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington

Plans"; The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the

Blanched Soldier".

"I never guess. It is a shocking habit – destructive to the

logical faculty."

Chap. 1, p. 93

"Hence the co-ca-ine. I cannot live without brain-work. What

else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such

a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog

swirls down the street and drifts acrothe dun-coloured houses.

What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the

use of having powers, Doctor, when one has no field upon which

to exert them? Crime is commonplace, existence is commonplace,

and no qualities save those which are commonplace have any

function upon earth."

Chap. 1, p. 93

He smiled gently. "It is of the first importance," he cried, "not

to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A

client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem. The emotional

qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the

most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning

three little children for their insurance-money, and the most