Tag Archives: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Quotes About Courage From Literature

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Courage QuotesWhether it’s the reality of Monday morning or something more serious, we all need a bit of courage now and again.   These quotes from literature might help.

“Come when they may, they shall not find us skulking and hiding, as if we feared to take our portion of the light of day, and left it all to them.” ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

“You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz. “All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.” ~ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” ~ Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

“I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.” ~ The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward. ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The List of Seven – Mystery Featuring Arthur Conan Doyle

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List of Seven
Looking for a good book to read over the weekend?  Check out List of Seven by Mark Frost.  Frost, a co-creator of the Twin Peaks television series, brings us an entertaining mystery featuring a young Arthur Conan Doyle.   The novel opens in London of 1884 when things go horribly wrong at a seance.  To solve the mystery, Conan Doyle joins forces with special agent Jack Sparks.  Together they pursue a deadly group of Victorian Satanists known as the Dark Brotherhood.

Here’s what one reader had to say . . .

There are books that are OK, books you like, books you love, and then there a another whole class of very special uber-books that you flat-out enjoy, devour every page, and feel devastated when they are finished.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Quote Photo

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Here’s a quote photo to share with friends and family.  I’ve also posted it on the LitQuotes Facebook page as well as our new Google Plus page for easier sharing.

“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

What a man may do in the future

Seven Musical Quotes From Literature

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music“I do hate singing before that sort of audience. It is like giving them your soul to look at, and you don’t want them to see it. It seems indecent. To my mind, music is the most REVEALING thing in the world.” ~  The Rosary by Florence L. Barclay

For his part, every beauty of art or nature made him thankful as well as happy, and that the pleasure to be had in listening to fine music, as in looking at the stars in the sky, or at a beautiful landscape or picture, was a benefit for which we might thank Heaven as sincerely as for any other worldly blessing. ~  Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

At a single strain of music, the scent of a flower, or even one glimpse of a path of moonlight lying fair upon a Summer sea, the barriers crumble and fall. Through the long corridors the ghosts of the past walk unforbidden, hindered only by broken promises, dead hopes, and dream-dust. ~  Old Rose and Silver by Myrtle Reed

“Your voice and music are the same to me.” ~  The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens

She made up her mind to tell them to play loud–there was a lot of music in a cornet, if the man would only put his soul into it. ~  The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

“I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs, and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.” ~  The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

“And now, Doctor, we’ve done our work, so it’s time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums.” ~  The Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

see all of the music quotes from literature

 

Conan Doyle and J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle April Fools Day seems like an appropriate time to talk about one of the early successes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s career, J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement.

The short story is a work of fiction.  However it’s based on a true story, the maritime mystery of the Mary Celeste. In 1872 the Mary Celeste was spotted  by the crew of the British brigantine Dei Gratia.  The Mary Celeste seemed to be in trouble. Some of her sails were missing while others flapped uselessly in the wind. Most alarming of all was the fact that there was no one at the wheel!

The Mary Celeste was boarded and found to be relatively undamaged.  The cargo was intact. There was plenty of food and water aboard. However there was no sign of  the crew.  Not a soul was on board.  To this day no one knows what happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste.

J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement was published anonymously.  In it, Conan Doyle wrote about an abandoned vessel named the Marie Celeste. The story tells how the ship was commandeered and sailed to Africa.  Later the passengers and crew were murdered.

The problem was that the story was so vivid that some people mistook it for an article.  They thought they were reading a piece of investigative journalism.  It caused quite an uproar.

Other people reading the tale understood that it was a work of fiction.  However it drew a lot of attention when hundreds of readers thought that they recognized the writing style of the anonymous author.  They suspected that the author was none other than Robert Louis Stevenson.

You can get more details about J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement at our partner site,
The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

Come, Watson, Come – The Game’s Afoot!

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Out of all the t-shirts, mugs, buttons, magnets, cards and other assorted merchandise in the LitQuotes gift shop, what’s the single most popular item?   Let me rephrase that.  What’s by FAR the most popular item at the gift shop?  It’s this Sherlock Holmes themed license plate frame . . .

Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot!

Let me know if you can think of any other phrases you’d like to see on license plate frames at the LitQuotes gift shop.

Perspective Quotes

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Perspective

So much of life is about perspective isn’t it?  You think you’re having a bad day and then you narrowly avoid a car accident.  It turns out to be a very, very lucky day.

You’re surprised to hear about a friend’s divorce.  You always thought they were so happy. Nope.  That was just how it looked from the outside.

You look out the window and see a snowy, cold afternoon.  Your child looks out the window and sees their world transformed into a beautiful, white fantasy.

Perspective.  It’s the difference between living your life and just getting through your life.

One never can tell from the sidewalk just what the view is to some one on the inside, looking out. ~  Knocking the Neighbors by George Ade

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

“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?” ~  Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

Five Quotes About London From Literature

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Big Ben

“I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not lived wholly in vain,” he remarked. “If my record were closed to-night I could still survey it with equanimity. The air of London is the sweeter for my presence.” ~  The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

There are houses whose souls have passed into the limbo of Time, leaving their bodies in the limbo of London. ~  The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

“If you lived in London, where the whole system is one of false good-fellowship, and you may know a man for twenty years without finding out that he hates you like poison, you would soon have your eyes opened. There we do unkind things in a kind way: we say bitter things in a sweet voice: we always give our friends chloroform when we tear them to pieces.” ~  You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw

London was beginning to illuminate herself against the night. Electric lights sizzled and jagged in the main thoroughfares, gas-lamps in the side streets glimmered a canary gold or green. ~  Howards End by E. M. Forster

All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage. ~  The Five Orange Pips by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

New Quotes Added – Conan Doyle, Harriet Beecher Stowe and More

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New QuotesToday I added over 40 new quotes to the database.  Here are my favorite quotes from the new batch. If you have a quote that you’d like to see added, feel free to contribute a quote.

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. ~ A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“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

“Instinct is a marvellous thing,” mused Poirot. “It can neither be explained nor ignored.” ~ The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

The longest way must have its close,—the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. ~ Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Anne was always glad in the happiness of her friends; but it is sometimes a little lonely to be surrounded everywhere by a happiness that is not your own. ~ Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

 

Valentine’s Day Quotes – 10 Love Quotes from Literature

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hearts2013It can sometimes be hard to come up with just the right words.  If you’re looking for some quotes to add to a Valentine’s Day card or letter, you know just what I mean.   Not to worry.  These ten love  quotes from literature will help.

“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.” ~  Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare

“Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars.” ~  Parables Of A Province by Gilbert Parker

The winds were warm about us, the whole earth seemed the wealthier for our love. ~  The Amber Gods by Harriet Prescott Spofford

Without, the sun shines bright and the birds are singing amid the ivy on the drooping beeches. Their choice is made, and they turn away hand-in-hand, with their backs to the darkness and their faces to the light. ~  The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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

“A heart well worth winning, and well won. A heart that, once won, goes through fire and water for the winner, and never changes, and is never daunted.” ~  Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” ~  Emma by Jane Austen

“You are my heart, my life, my one and only thought.” ~  The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive. ~  Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

See All of Our Love Quotes from Literature