“The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks.”

“What was the Sherlock Holmes principle? ‘Once you have discounted the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ ” “I reject that entirely,” said Dirk sharply. “The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbably lacks. How often have you been presented with an apparently rational explanation of something that works in all respects other than one, which is that it is hopelessly improbable?...The first idea merely supposes that there is something we don’t know about, and...there are enough of those. The second, however, runs contrary to something fundamental and human which we do know about. We should therefore be very suspicious of it and all its specious rationality.”

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

“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

“Improbable is not the same as impossible.”

“The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity.For this reason, he has integrity.The person of inferior integritynever loses sight of his integrity;For this reason, he lacks integrity.”