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Arthur Conan Doyle

35 free books by Arthur Conan Doyle. 35 you can read right here.

Born 1859 in Edinburgh · Died 1930 in Crowborough

writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, screenwriter · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Notable works: canon of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World

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Facts from Wikidata (Q35610), retrieved 2026-09-26.

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Quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s books

Verified word for word in the text: each quote is copied exactly from the book’s text in this site’s reader (the Project Gutenberg e-text named under each book) and links to its passage; when this page was built, every quote was checked word for word against that text. How RedLectern is built.

The Sign of the Four

From Project Gutenberg e-text #2097 (public domain in the USA).

No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty.

— Spoken by a character · I. The Science of Deduction

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How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

— Spoken by a character · VI. Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

From Project Gutenberg e-text #1661 (public domain in the USA).

You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.

— Spoken by a character · I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA

Also in Adventures of Sherlock Holmes IllustratedRead in context →

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.

— Spoken by a character · I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA

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The Hound of the Baskervilles

From Project Gutenberg e-text #2852 (public domain in the USA).

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.

— Spoken by a character · 3. The Problem

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Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him.

13. Fixing the NetsRead in context →

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A Study in Scarlet

From Project Gutenberg e-text #244 (public domain in the USA).

There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.

— Spoken by a character · IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL

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

— Spoken by a character · III. THE LAURISTON GARDENS MYSTERY

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The Lost World

From Project Gutenberg e-text #139 (public domain in the USA).

I'm like an old golf-ball--I've had all the white paint knocked off me long ago. Life can whack me about now, and it can't leave a mark. But a sportin' risk, young fellah, that's the salt of existence.

— Spoken by a character · Chapter VI

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There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done. It's for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men.

— Spoken by a character · Chapter I

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