#detail

The affair seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day. ↗

— Arthur Conan Doyle

#details #detection #facts #importance #sherlock-holmes

I didn't want readers to have to make allowances for what they couldn't see, but to be able to say to themselves that the fabric of the magic detailed was perfectly believable. ↗

— Terry Brooks

#allowances #believable #detailed #fabric #i

He surprised me by his familiarity with details of movements and battles which I did not suppose had come to his knowledge. As he kept me talking for over half an hour, I flattered myself that what I had to say interested him. ↗

— Henry Villard

#come #details #did #familiarity #flattered

Literature differs from life in that life is amorphously full of detail, and rarely directs us toward it, wheras literature teaches us to notice. Literature makes us better noticers of life; we get to practice on life itself; which in turn makes us better readers of detail in literature; which in turn makes us better readers of life. ↗

— James Wood

#fiction #james-wood #literature #life

Life is not a plot; it's in the details. ↗

— Jodi Picoult

#life #plot #life

To our Creator, a small detail is a big deal. ↗

— Todd Stocker

#details #god #life #love #life

The details of life have a tendency to interfere with the actual living of life. ↗

— Richard Diaz

#life #living #life

There were far worse strategies in life than to try to make each aspect of one's existence a minor work of art. ↗

— Pat Conroy

#detail #excellence #art

When describing nature, a writer should seize upon small details, arranging them so that the reader will see an image in his mind after he closes his eyes. For instance: you will capture the truth of a moonlit night if you'll write that a gleam like starlight shone from the pieces of a broken bottle, and then the dark, plump shadow of a dog or wolf appeared. You will bring life to nature only if you don't shrink from similes that liken its activities to those of humankind." (Letter to Alexander Chekhov, May 10, 1886) ↗

— Anton Chekhov

#detail #nature #show-don-t-tell #writing #life

Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts, surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of five hundred families. ↗

— Hernando Cortes

#among #architectural #describe #details #enough