BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Which story does this quote come from?

**Posted by ukaunz** March 23, 2016 10:51 am

I came across this quote which has been attributed to Arthur Conan Doyle, and possibly spoken by Moriarty:
“I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours.”
But I can't find out which story it is from. I mean, there are only a handful of stories in which Moriarty is mentioned and only one in which he actually appears, right? I've keyword searched "The Final Problem" and it's not there. I've googled the quote, and all that results say is that it's an ACD quote. Could it be from another of his works? Does anyone recognise it?

**Posted by ukaunz** March 27, 2016 1:07 am

Bump

**Posted by Harriet** March 27, 2016 11:34 am

I have no idea, sorry. If there is no source, perhaps it's not an original quote?

**Posted by Lilythiell** March 27, 2016 11:54 am

I'm going to look into that this afternoon -just let me get the books.

Maybe it's from the Sevent Percent Solution? I don't have this one, though, I cannot look into it.
Or maybe in the lost story which has been recovered two years ago? This one I have, and I'll start with that one. It's the shortest of them all, after all.

**Posted by ukaunz** March 27, 2016 11:56 am

Wow, thank you Lily only if you're not busy though!

**Posted by nakahara** March 27, 2016 11:58 am

I think that the quote is not from Arthur Conan Doyle and if it is, it was never said by Professor Moriarty. Because the only occassion when we actually hear Professor Moriarty speaking occurs in The Final Problem - and this quote is definitely not from there. Also, Professor Moriarty of the canon never wanted to "end the world", he rather wanted to spend his riches in obscurity and enjoy them as long as he could.

My guess is that the quote is probably from some SH movie.

**Posted by Lilythiell** March 27, 2016 12:06 pm

Well, the quote's not from the lost story - which I presume was not written by Sir Arthur - it's way too short. Let's carry on!

Good God, it is the most fun I had in...! Missed it!
@ukaunz : no worries

**Posted by Harriet** March 27, 2016 12:09 pm

Lilythiell wrote:
I'm going to look into that this afternoon -just let me get the books.

I guess since all the original stories are online at Gutenberg and elsewhere, it should show up with a plain google research?

**Posted by Lilythiell** March 27, 2016 12:55 pm

Yes, I suppose they should.
So I began typing the quote, convinced it'd come up. But it didn't -only thing is from goodreads, author Arthur Conan Doyle, but no more precision than that.
I need to know more. So I'll keep on looking.

What if it were something he said that was used by one of his fellow friends and writers?

Last edited by Lilythiell (March 27, 2016 1:06 pm)

**Posted by Harriet** March 27, 2016 1:06 pm

http://www.subzin.com/ - a movie quote database - doesn't have it either.

**Posted by Whisky** March 29, 2016 10:34 am

Interesting. Googled it, it's everywhere - used by fans, printed on t-shirts... curious.

I'd also guess it's from a movie, but it's strange it doesn't appear as movie quote then. But I think only quotes appear that s.o. put online first. I suppose they don't put whole scripts online? Dunno.

http://bakerstreetbabes.tumblr.com/post/123181052633/dramatisecho-i-wanted-to-end-the-world-but

Saw this and thought, maybe the quote is in the text in the picture? But I cannot read it. We could ask though ;-)

Also found this: http://m.ibnlive.com/news/india/fan-made-trailers-that-are-so-good-that-you-wont-miss-the-original-675042.html

And stumbled over "Elementary". Is it used there?

Last edited by Whisky (March 29, 2016 10:43 am)

**Posted by Toby75** March 29, 2016 11:35 am

First of all, hello everybody, this is actually my first post on this forum.
Regarding this quote, it sounded familiar to me as well, but I couldn't figure out where it's from either. I don't think it's an oroginal Doyle quote though.
When I googled it, I came across a slightly different quote which apparantly is from the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes and is spoken by the character of Lord Blackwood:

"I wanted to change the world, but I'll settle for ending yours."

I'm not allowed to post a link since this is my first posting. But when you google it, you come across several results that all say it's from that movie.
I can't confirm this, as I haven't watched the movie yet.

**Posted by ukaunz** March 29, 2016 12:03 pm

Thanks Whisky, those are both interesting links that you posted.
I've been watching Elementary but I don't recall their version of Moriarty saying the line.

Welcome Toby75
I think you've got it... I found a review of the Sherlock Holmes film (Guy Ritchie, 2009) which mentions the line as being a bit of "clunky dialogue" (here).

So the line is actually "I wanted to change the world, but I'll settle for ending yours."

Thank you, consulting detectives, we have solved the mystery!

**Posted by Lilythiell** March 29, 2016 1:25 pm

Great! And thank you, Toby75

**Posted by nakahara** March 29, 2016 6:05 pm

Perfect, Toby75! You solved this little mystery fantastically, thank you!

**Posted by Harriet** March 30, 2016 8:28 pm

http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=sherlock-holmes
The odd thing is, this site with movie scripts doesn't have this quote for that film - but maybe they are wrong or lost data after their server failure