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
Three quiet days. This hell fiend is like a cat with a mouse. She lets me loose only to pounce upon me again. I am never so frightened as when every thing is still.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the tension between moments of calm and the underlying fear of impending danger.
In this quote by Arthur Conan Doyle, the speaker describes a fearful anticipation that arises during quiet moments. The metaphor of a cat with a mouse illustrates how fear can be a lurking presence, which becomes more pronounced in stillness, as it is during these quiet times that one can become acutely aware of their vulnerabilities and the potential for sudden chaos or danger.
Themes
FearSilenceAnticipationVulnerabilityDanger
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming fear, this quote could highlight how anticipation can sometimes be more frightening than the actual event.
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.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
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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