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 am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a sense of fatigue and frustration with unproductive efforts.
In this quote, Arthur Conan Doyle uses the metaphor of a battery pouring electricity into a non-conductor to express the feeling of exhaustion that comes from trying to make an impact or generate energy where it's not appreciated or received. It illustrates the sense of weariness that can arise when one's efforts go unrecognized or unreciprocated, evoking a broader contemplation on the futility of certain endeavors.
Themes
ExhaustionEffortFutilityEnergyFrustration
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about perseverance, one might quote this to highlight the challenges of working hard without seeing results.
More from Arthur Conan Doyle
All quotes βI 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.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
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.
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You yourself may not be luminous, but you are a conductor of light.
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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.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
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.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
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