Quote

While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will be up to, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician.

Arthur Conan Doyle

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Arthur Conan Doyle
Age: 71 †
Born: 1859
Born: May 22
Died: 1930
Died: July 7
Crime Writer
Essayist
Novelist
Physician
Physician Writer
Playwright
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Edinburgh
Scotland
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
Sir A. Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan
Sir Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Men
Constant
Vary
Number
Puzzles
Foretell
Becomes
Statistics
Insoluble
Example
Mathematical
Statistician
Numbers
Certainty
Aggregate
Says
Individuals
Puzzle
Individual
Remain
Percentages
Never
Average
Precision

More quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle

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The chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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...while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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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 Doyle
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To all the world he was the man of violence, half animal and half demon but to her he always remained the little wilful boy of her own girlhood, the child who had clung to her hand. Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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The lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.
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Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before.
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I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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Come what may, I am bound to think that all things are ordered for the best though when the good is a furlong off, and we with our beetle eyes can only see three inches, it takes some confidence in general principles to pull us through.
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Healthy scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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Why should people ever take credit for charity when they must know that they cannot gain as much pleasure out of their guineas in any other fashion?
Arthur Conan Doyle
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A trusty comrade is always of use and a chronicler still more so.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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No violence, gentlemen — no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!
Arthur Conan Doyle
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It is a fool's plan to teach a man to be a cur in peace, and think that he will be a lion in war.
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There are no fools so troublesome as those who have some wit.
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There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
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The mighty voice of Canada will ever call to me.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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And once again Mr. Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to examining those interesting little problems which the complexity of human life so pletifuly presents.
Arthur Conan Doyle