Tag Archives: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

10 Quotes About Truth from Literature

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With fake news running wild, how do we know what’s true? Here’s what William Shakespeare, Herman Melville, George R. R. Martin and others have to say.

Quotes about the Truth

There was a great historian lost in Wolverstone. He had the right imagination that knows just how far it is safe to stray from the truth and just how far to colour it so as to change its shape for his own purposes. ~ Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini

“Truth is like a thrashing-machine; tender sensibilities must keep out of the way.” ~ The Confidence-Man by Herman Melville

You’ll find truth in your looking glass, not on the tongues of men. ~ A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin

Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad. ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

“It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” ~ The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“Journalists say a thing that they know isn’t true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true.” ~ The Title by Arnold Bennett

People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it’s served up. ~ A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

“I make no manner of doubt that you threw a very diamond of truth at me, though you see it hit me so directly in the face that it wasn’t exactly appreciated, at first.” ~ Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“For truth is truth to the end of reckoning.” ~ Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare

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20 Literary Quotes to Motivate You

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20 Literary Quotes to Motivate You

Let’s face it.  Life can be tough. To help get you through, here are twenty of the best motivational quotes that literature has to offer . . .

If you need something to worship, then worship life — all life, every last crawling bit of it! We’re all in this beauty together! ~ Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

Even on this small stage we have our two sides, and something might be done by throwing all one’s weight on the scale of breadth, tolerance, charity, temperance, peace, and kindliness to man and beast. We can’t all strike very big blows, and even the little ones count for something. ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. ~ Paradise Lost by John Milton

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit From pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul. ~ Invictus by William Ernest Henley

“I say that the strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” ~ Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

“I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.” ~ David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Love and Truth

“Look at that sea, girls–all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.” ~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

“People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” ~ Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw

The Sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on. ~ The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

Motivational Quote by Dickens

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.” ~ Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli

“As long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life.” ~ Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

“Love has no age, no limit; and no death.” ~ The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

Love quotes

“There are times, young fellah, when every one of us must make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feel clean again.” ~ The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.” ~ Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare

“The sun does not shine upon this fair earth to meet frowning eyes, depend upon it.” ~ Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

“That is one good thing about this world. . .there are always sure to be more springs.” ~ Anne Of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne Of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Come what may, I am bound to think that all things are ordered for the best; though when the good is a furlong off, and we with our beetle eyes can only see three inches, it takes some confidence in general principles to pull us through. ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.” ~ Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast. ~ The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Thinking of Paris

 

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7 Literary Quotes about Destiny

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Quotes about DestinyHistory is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again. ~ A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin

Can we outrun the heavens? ~ Henry VI, Part Two by William Shakespeare

Were we no better than chessmen, moved by an unseen power, vessels the potter fashions at his fancy, for honour or for shame? ~ Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde

Destiny has a constant passion for the incongruous. ~ The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

But often the great cat Fate lets us go only to clutch us again in a fiercer grip. ~ The Curse of Eve by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“This whole act’s immutably decreed. ‘Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders.” ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!” ~ A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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Eight “Smelly” Quotes from Literature

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Quotes about Smells“I love to smell flowers in the dark,” she said. “You get hold of their soul then.” ~ Anne’s House of Dreams by Lucy Maud Montgomery

It smells like the left wing of the day of judgment. ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The mutable, rank-scented many . . . ~ Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

“I wish we could see perfumes as well as smell them. I’m sure they would be very beautiful.” ~ Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

“The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril.” ~ The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

“Don’t you love heavy fragrances, faint with sweetness, ravishing juices of odor, heliotropes, violets, water-lilies,–powerful attars and extracts that snatch your soul off your lips?” ~ The Amber Gods by Harriet Prescott Spofford

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” ~ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

“Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.” ~ The Naval Treaty by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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7 Quotes About the Heart from Literature

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Quotes about the Heart from LiteratureThese are some of the sweetest quotes about hearts from literature.

“Friendship, I fancy, means one heart between two.” ~ Diana of the Crossways by George Meredith

Life’s more than breath and the quick round of blood;
It is a great spirit and a busy heart. ~ Festus by Philip James Bailey

Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision. ~ Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Maybe, he thought, there aren’t any such things as good or bad friends – maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you’re hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they’re always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that’s what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart. ~ It by Stephen King

She had found her heart at last. Never having known its worth till now, she had never known the worth of his. ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

“I carry my own church about under my own hat,” said I. “Bricks and mortar won’t make a staircase to heaven. I believe with your Master that the human heart is the best temple.” ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. ~ Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

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20 Funny Quotes from Literature

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Funny Quotes from Literature

“To win back my youth, Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn’t do—except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of the community.” ~ A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde

“I always say beauty is only sin deep.” ~ Reginald by Saki

It is the necessary nature of a political party in this country to avoid, as long as it can be avoided, the consideration of any question which involves a great change. ~ Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast. ~ Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde

“Prophecy is like a half-trained mule,” he complained to Jorah Mormont. “It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head.” ~ A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin

You can’t expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal’s return. ~ Reginald by Saki

Fox terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs are. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

Discovering that priests were infinitely more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude. ~ This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie.” ~ The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.” ~ An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers. ~ A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

“I discovered early that crying makes my nose red, and the knowledge has helped me through several painful episodes.” ~ The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

In all the thousands of times I have asked other people for advice, I never yet got the advice I wanted. ~ Armadale by Wilkie Collins

A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience. ~ Strictly Business by O. Henry

Mrs. Bittacy rustled ominously, holding her peace meanwhile. She feared long words she did not understand. Beelzebub lay hid among too many syllables. ~ The Man Whom the Trees Loved by Algernon Blackwood

“Unbidden guests
Are often welcomest when they are gone.” ~ Henry VI, Part One by William Shakespeare

The bishop did not whistle: we believe that they lose the power of doing so on being consecrated. ~ The Warden by Anthony Trollope

What the eye does not see, the stomach does not get upset over. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

I don’t want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again. ~ This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible. ~ Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope

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5 Quotes about Variety from Literature

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Variety Quotes from Literature

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. ~ Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

“I never keep to anything long. Variety is the mother of Enjoyment.” ~ Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli

The complex affair we call the world requires a great variety of people to keep it going. ~ The Golden House by Charles Dudley Warner

“I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite variety.” ~ The Adventure of the Empty House by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections. ~ Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

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Seven Emotion Quotes from Literature

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Emotion Quotes from Literature

Reason is the first victim of strong emotion. ~ Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

They came to her, naturally, since she was a woman, all day long with this and that; one wanting this, another that; the children were growing up; she often felt she was nothing but a sponge sopped full of human emotions. ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

But sleep, in the long run, proves greater than all emotions. ~ The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood

A crowd, proportionately to its size, magnifies all that in its units pertains to the emotions, and diminishes all that in them pertains to thought. ~ Zuleika Dobson by Sir Max Beerbohm

The human brain is capable of only one strong emotion at a time, and if it be filled with curiosity or scientific enthusiasm, there is no room for fear. ~ The Brown Hand by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

For it is the mind which creates the world about us, and, even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched. ~ The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing

After violent emotion most people and all boys demand food. ~ Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

 

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