…”What a woman—oh, what a woman!” cried the King of Bohemia, when we had all read the epistle. “Did I not tell you how quick and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?”
“From what I have seen of the lady, she seems, indeed, to be on a very different level to your Majesty,” said Holmes coldly…A Scandal in Bohemia
…”What are you going to do then?” I asked.
“To smoke,” he answered. “It is quite a three pipe problem…”…The Red-Headed League
…”’Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method…”…A Case of Identity
…”It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”…A Case of Identity
…”Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious facts which have been by no means obvious to Mr. Lestrade.”…The Boscombe Valley Mystery
…”I beg that you draw your chair up to the fire, and favour me with some details as to your case.”… The Five Orange Pips
…”I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve to be kicked from here to Charing Cross.”…The Man with the Twisted Lip
…For answer, Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. “It is a question of cubic capacity,” said he: “a man with so large a brain must have something in it.”…The  Blue Carbuncle.
    You see, Doyle, and therefore Holmes, held a common erroneous belief of the time that intelligence could be measured by the cubic capacity of the brain. The big hat size means the man must be at least a professor. This argument was commonly used to keep women and natives in their inferior place in Victorian England. The fact that it made gorillas and whales more intelligent than humans was apparently to be ignored.
…”It seems to me a most dark and sinister business.”…The Speckled Band
…”I think I could lay my finger on it,” said Holmes, quietly…The Engineer’s Thumb
…”The case has been an interesting one,” remarked Holmes, “because it serves to show very clearly how simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight seems inexplicable..”…The Noble Bachelor
…I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike…The Beryl Coronet
…As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further interest in her when once she ceased to be the centre of one of his problems…The Copper Beeches
    In 1892, after a shaky start, Sherlock Holmes came into his own when Arthur Conan Doyle published the first collection of short stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, those run throughout the year before in The Strand Magazine. At this time, Doyle abandoned the medical profession, only to be struck down with flu from which he nearly died. In fact he was working on a historical novel The Refugees, little regarded these days, and he considered Holmes merely a source of making the money to support his more serious works. Everyone else on Planet Earth saw the matter otherwise. It should be noted that by then, Watson is married and no longer living at 221B Baker Street, and that Holmes’ cocaine addiction seems worryingly advanced without Watson there to keep tabs on him.