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Conan Quotes

Detective wit, comic book art, and sharp one-liners named Conan.

Conan means different things to different fans — a pulp-era comic hero, a legendary detective's creator, or a late-night host. This collection gathers memorable Art and pop-culture lines built around that one name.

I dug up some old John Buscema 'Conan' comics. Man, when Alfredo Alcala was inking, that was some of the most beautiful black and white comic art ever published. The stories are good, too, though early '70s comics based on...

Quotes by Ted Naifeh

Arthur Conan Doyle was entranced by the notion of a brilliant detective who can deduce everything a stranger has been up to from the merest clue, and yet can't have a trusting relationship with his closest friend.

Quotes by Rafael Yglesias

I love Sherlock Holmes. There's still an awful lot to steal from Conan Doyle. But within a tradition you can work in many different ways.

Quotes by Henning Mankell

I used to joke that I came to England - not to the U.S. where most Koreans go - because I like Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.

Quotes by Ha-Joon Chang

Art Quotes

It is as impossible for man to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Quotes by Frederick Buechner

I was a promiscuous reader. I loved Nancy Drew books and Tom Swift - never the Hardy Boys - but I also read Dumas, Dickens, Poe, Conan Doyle, and Cornelius Ryan's war books. As to favorite character: I'm torn between...

Quotes by Erik Larson

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle conceived Sherlock Holmes, why didn't he give the famous consulting detective a few more quirks: a wooden leg, say, and an Oedipus complex? Well, Holmes didn't need many physical tics or personality disorders; the very...

Quotes by Christopher Fowler

I think so often about how, when I was starting out at UCB, Conan O'Brien was in town, and on his show back then, they sometimes did character bits, and I started getting paid to dress up as a page...

Quotes by Chris Gethard

Once, after I had just worked out, I hopped on the elevator at the gym only to look up and see Conan O'Brien on it with me. I was so sad. I was all sweaty, but I love him so...

Quotes by Ashlan Gorse Cousteau

Back Quotes

I have to be honest with you: I'm a huge fan of Conan O'Brien.

Quotes by Ashlan Gorse Cousteau

If you go back to the Conan the Barbarian series, I really liked that.

Quotes by Andre Braugher

I get younger people who watch Conan or The Daily Show, but before that it was mostly people who knew me from public radio. Those people are kind of old.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the word "Conan" usually refer to in these quotes?
In this collection, "Conan" points to several different things — Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, the pulp-era comic hero drawn by artists like John Buscema, and even late-night television. The quotes cross all three meanings.
Who was Arthur Conan Doyle, according to these quotes?
Doyle appears as the writer fascinated by a detective who could deduce a stranger's life from small clues, yet struggled with trust in his own relationships. A couple of quotes here reflect on that contrast between genius and human limitation.
Why do comic fans mention inking so often in Conan quotes?
Classic Conan comics relied heavily on inkers like Alfredo Alcala, whose black-and-white work is remembered as some of the finest ever published. Fans quoted here treat that inking style as inseparable from the character's visual identity.
Do any of these quotes reference late-night television?
Yes, one quote notes that younger viewers discovered the speaker through Conan or The Daily Show, while older audiences knew them from public radio. It highlights how generational taste in entertainment can differ sharply.
How do these Conan quotes connect to detective fiction more broadly?
Several lines discuss Sherlock Holmes and what later writers still borrow from Conan Doyle's tradition, even while working in different styles. For more literary reflections, see our Art quotes collection.

Whether you came for Sherlock Holmes trivia or comic book nostalgia, these quotes reward a slow read. Browse more moods in our Beautiful and Boy collections.