Once you've ruled out the impossible then whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth. The problem lay in working out what was impossible, of course. That was the trick, all right. There was also the curious incident of the orangutan in the night-time.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that by eliminating the impossible, we uncover the truth, even if it seems unlikely.
This quote highlights a logical approach to problem-solving and understanding reality. It emphasizes the importance of discerning what can be deemed impossible before considering what remains, no matter how improbable it might be. The mention of the 'curious incident of the orangutan in the night-time' adds a layer of curiosity and complexity to pondering the unexpected and seemingly absurd elements that can hold truth.
In practice
In a debate about conspiracy theories, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for critical thinking.
And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions.
They've got something they do it with, I think it's called a mocracy, and it means everyone in the whole country can say who the new Tyrant is. One man ... one vet. ... Everyone has ... the vet. Except for women, of course. And children. And criminals. And slaves. And stupid people. And people of foreign extraction. And people disapproved of for, er, various reasons. And lots of other people. But everyone apart from them. It's a very enlightened civilization.
Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.
You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.
Any fool could be a witch with a runic knife, but it took skill to be one with an apple corer.
People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, and not only because they're standing on one and being soaked by the other. They don't look quite like real science. But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity. And summer isn't a time. It's a place as well. Summer is a moving creature and likes to go south for the winter.
Every offense is avenged on earth.
So long as you are ready to die for humanity, the life of your country is immortal.
He knew how to say many false things that were like true sayings.
Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.
I can speak of slavery only so far as it came under my own observation - only so far as I have known and experienced it in my own person.
It belongs to the very substance of nonviolence never to destroy or damage another person's feeling of self worth, even an opponent's. We all need, constantly, an advance of trust and affirmation.
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