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Sample:

The swing of his nature took him from extreme languor to devouring energy; and as I knew well, he was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his black-letter editions.

The sentence comes from the Red-Headed Leagues. Watson describes both sides of Holme's characters: artistic vs. astute.

When Watson describes him as "he was never so truly formidable as when,....", does he mean that Holmes is not formidable at all when he relaxes at home, or that even lounging at his armchair, Homles is truly formidable for those criminals?

It looks that "be never so truly formidable when" is different from "be never so truly formidable as when".

Does the sentence "be never so .... as when" indicate negative meaning or it's just a way to emphasis?

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He was never so truly formidable as when ...

This is indeed a tricky formulation, easily misunderstood. It can be expanded slightly to:

There was never a time when he was so truly formidable as when ...

In modern English, we tend to use "as ... as", rather than "so ... as":

There was never a time when he was as truly formidable as when ...

If we assign some value of "formidableness" to "when he had been lounging for days on end", then we can ask "is there any time when he was equally as formidable?"

The sentence answers that question with "no" - there was never a time when he was equally as formidable.

So when he had been lounging, he was at his most formidable.

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  • The strong implication of He was never so truly formidable as [some specific situation] is that he was always relatively formidable - but in that particular situation he was much more formidable than usual.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Dec 16, 2021 at 13:17
  • @FumbleFingers Hm, interesting, I didn't particularly get that impression. I agree it's true in this case, but I think that's from other context, not this phrase. Consider this sentence: "Johnny was never so afraid as when his parents told him Father Christmas wouldn't come if he didn't go to sleep." There's no implication that Johnny is always afraid, just that of all the times when he was afraid, this is the most extreme.
    – IMSoP
    Commented Dec 16, 2021 at 14:04
  • Different people might have different opinions on this one. I think it makes at least some difference exactly what quality is being "epitomised" by reference to [some specific situation] in this context. Even with your afraid example I'd be inclined to assume that Johnny was a fearful child in general, but the implication of the subject habitually exhibiting or experiencing the attribute seems stronger with formidable. (Maybe it's just that I know all children are afraid sometimes, but it's not obvious that all fictional detectives are (at least sometimes) "formidable" :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Dec 16, 2021 at 17:29

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