I never guess. 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.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

mistakes knowledge error facts guessing

About Arthur Conan Doyle

Portrait of Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He is best known for his four novels and fifty-six short stories about the fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson, which are milestones in crime fiction, and for...

More quotations from Arthur Conan Doyle

Turns out if you never lie, there's always someone mad at you.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

Toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

More quotations tagged with “facts”

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

—Benjamin Disraeli

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Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.

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It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.

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A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.

—Edward Teller

facts guilt hypothesis

We all want to be happy, and we're all going to die.… You might say these are the only two unchallengeably true facts that apply to every human being on this planet.

—William Boyd

truth life happiness facts death

History

22 Feb 2014 Added
14 Jul 2015 Edited (details weren’t recorded yet)