Top 25 Quotes by Mark Haddon of 132 - Page 6

At twenty life was like wrestling an octopus. Every moment mattered. At thirty it was a walk in the country. Most of the time your mind was somewhere else. By the time you got to seventy, it was probably like watching

At twenty life was like wrestling an octopus. Every moment mattered. At thirty it was a walk in the country. Most of the time your mind was somewhere else. By the time you got to seventy, it was probably like watching snooker on the telly.

Mark Haddon

Country, Wrestling, Somewhere Else

It exasperated her sometimes. The way men could be so sure of themselves. They put words together like sheds or shelves and you could stand on them they were so solid. And those feelings which overwhelmed you in the small hours turned to smoke.

Mark Haddon

Men, Feelings, Together

When I was 13 or 14, I started devouring novels; literature took quite a while to take me over, but it caught up just in time to save me from becoming a mathematician.

Mark Haddon

Becoming, Literature, Devouring

I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier.

Mark Haddon

Children, Book, Writing

But I said that you could still want something that is very unlikely to happen.

Mark Haddon

Want Something, Unlikely, Said

Mark Haddon (2012). “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Vintage Children's Classics”, p.32, Random House

I like poetry when I don't quite understand why I like it. Poetry isn't just a question of wrapping something up and giving it to someone else to unwrap. It just doesn't work like that.

Mark Haddon

Giving, Poetry Is, Wrapping

"Finding the vital spark". Interview With Nicholas Wroe, www.theguardian.com. September 23, 2005.