Mystery Quotes

"There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it." ~ A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "I'm not going to tell you much more of the case, Doctor. You know a conjuror 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." ~ A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee." ~ A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "How are you? You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." ~ A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "By a man's finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs -- by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable." ~ A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "Scotland Yard still insists that the man in the grey ulster who left for Paris by the midnight train on the ninth of November was poor Basil, and the French police declare that Basil never arrived in Paris at all. I suppose in about a fortnight we shall be told that he has been seen in San Francisco. It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world." ~ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde It was as if, at moments, we were perpetually coming into sight of subjects before which we must stop short, turning suddenly out of alleys that we perceived to be blind, closing with a little bang that made us look at each other--for, like all bangs, it was something louder than we had intended--the doors we had indiscreetly opened. ~ The Turn of the Screw by Henry James "The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer." ~ The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle To all the world he was the man of violence, half animal and half demon; but to her he always remained the little wilful boy of her own girlhood, the child who had clung to her hand. Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him. ~ The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "The devil's agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?" ~ The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle