[Ads-l] Quote: When You Have Eliminated the Impossible Whatever Remains, However Improbable, Must Be the Truth

[Shapiro, Fred]

I have long considered the "eliminated the impossible" quotation to be one of the best lines of all time.  Larry Horn, Elizabeth Knowles, and Garson O'Toole have done a great service by publicizing the 1885 occurrence, which I was not aware of.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Thursday, May 2, 2024 9:08 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Quote: When You Have Eliminated the Impossible Whatever Remains, However Improbable, Must Be the Truth

The saying in the subject line is usually credited to Arthur Conan
Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes. But list member LH told me about an
intriguing 1885 short story by Doyle in which the saying is ascribed
to Edgar Allan Poe's ratiocinator Auguste Dupin.

LH also told me about a novel by Dorothy L. Sayers in which the
linkages to Holmes and Dupin are both mentioned.

The saying has not yet been found in Poe's oeuvre.

Doyle did use the expression multiple times in his works. Others
noticed and highlighted the saying. Here is an overview with dates:

1885: Exclude the impossible and what is left, however improbable,
must be the truth (The Fate of the Evangeline by A. Conan Doyle)

1890: Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be
the truth (The Sign of the Four by A. Conan Doyle)

1890: When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth (The Sign of the Four by A.
Conan Doyle)

1892: When you have excluded the impossible , whatever remains ,
however improbable, must be the truth (The Adventure of the Beryl
Coronet by A. Conan Doyle)

1896: Eliminate the impossible, and what is left, however improbable,
must be the truth (Attributed to Sherlock Holmes within Beyond the
Verge by De Witt C. Chipman)

1908: When all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth (The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington
Plans by A. Conan Doyle)

1930: When you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains,
however improbable, must be true (Attributed to Sherlock Holmes and
Auguste Dupin within Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers)

The Quote Investigator article is here:
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fquoteinvestigator.com%2F2024%2F05%2F02%2Feliminate-impossible%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C6bbf83235079417b409608dc6b0d8e57%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638502953178575409%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fmJAkL6PRwAHQJkIsorDqF2H1l%2Bua1LbSG3qoe5tGD8%3D&reserved=0<https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/05/02/eliminate-impossible/>

Feedback welcome
Garson O’Toole

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