“My mind rebels at stagnation, give me problems, give me work!”

“My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.”

“Anything is better than stagnation.”

“My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so.”

“Draw your chair up, and hand me my violin, for the only problem which we have still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings.”

“What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently: "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.”

“It is of the first importance not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit, ---a factor in a problem. - Sherlock Holmes”