It has always seemed to me that so long as you produce your dramatic effect, accuracy of detail matters little. I have never striven for it and I have made some bad mistakes in consequence. What matter if I hold my readers?
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty.
Interpretation
Guessing undermines logical thinking and reasoning.
In this quote, Arthur Conan Doyle emphasizes the importance of rational thought and the dangers of reliance on assumptions. He suggests that guessing hinders our ability to think logically and make sound judgments, advocating for a more analytical and evidence-based approach to understanding the world.
In practice
During a debate, one might quote this to emphasize the need for factual support rather than speculation.
It has always seemed to me that so long as you produce your dramatic effect, accuracy of detail matters little. I have never striven for it and I have made some bad mistakes in consequence. What matter if I hold my readers?
I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air -- or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones.
You yourself may not be luminous, but you are a conductor of light.
I could not rest, Watson, I could not sit quiet in my chair, if I thought that such a man as Professor Moriarty were walking the streets of London unchallenged.
It seems very strange ... that in the course of the world's history so obvious an improvement should never have been adopted. ... The next generation of Britishers would be the better for having had this extra hour of daylight in their childhood.
It's OK to quote from your past. But I'm more interested in quoting from my present and pointing towards the future.
Zen is not interested in high-flown statements; it wants its pupil to bite his apple and not discuss it.
Those who worship God only, can get rid of anxiety of mind; others cannot.
I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.
Reformers who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea that truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.
I don't journal to 'be productive.' I don't do it to find great ideas or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren't intended for anyone but me. It's the most cost-effective therapy I've ever found.
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