“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
More from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Wisdom
“When a man does a queer thing, or two queer things, there may be a meaning to it, but when everything he does is queer, then you begin to wonder”
“It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.”
“Jealousy is a strange transformer of characters.”
“To underestimate oneself is as much an exaggeration of one's powers than the other.”
“Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed?”
“To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces.”
“Everything I have to say has already crossed your mind.""Then possibly my answer has crossed yours.”
“...above all, do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for it.”
Others on Wisdom
Sun Tzu
30 quotes“Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.”
Dalai Lama
22 quotes“Compassion is the radicalism of our time.”
Cervantes
20 quotes“A closed mouth catches no flies.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Little by little does the trick.”
Confucius
19 quotes“The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man perfected without trials.”
Ben Franklin
18 quotes“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.”
Napoleon
16 quotes“Ability is of little account without opportunity.”
Cicero
15 quotes“Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.”
Khalil Gibran
14 quotes“Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.”
Rudyard Kipling
14 quotes“I keep six honest serving men. (They taught me all I know) Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and...”
George R.R. Martin
14 quotes“This was how an enemy should be dealt with: with a dagger, not a declaration.”
George Washington
14 quotes“Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.”