“My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.”

British writer and physician

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He is best known for creating Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, whose stories became landmarks in crime fiction, and for The Lost World, the 1912 novel that helped name a branch of speculative fiction. Beyond those works, he wrote more than 200 stories and articles, along with four volumes of poetry and several stage pieces. He was knighted by King Edward VII in the 1902 Coronation Honours.