Graeme Simsion
But why, why, why can't people just say what they mean?Collection: Mean
Research consistently shows that the risks to health outweigh the benefits of drinking alcohol. My argument is that the benefits to my mental health justify the risks.Collection: Drinking
I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.Collection: Love
Humans often fail to see what is close to them and obvious to others.Collection: Failing
There are so many weird people that nobody takes any notice. We all just fit right in.Collection: People
If you really love someone,' Claudia continued, 'you have to be prepared to accept them as they are. Maybe you hope that one day they get a wake-up call and make the changes for their own reasons.Collection: One Day
To the world's most perfect woman. It was lucky my father was not present. Perfect is an absolute that cannot be modified, like unique or pregnant. My love for Rosie was so powerful that it had caused my brain to make a grammatical error.Collection: Love
Our first relationship with a male is with our fathers. It affects how we relate to men forever.Collection: Father
Fortunately, I am accustomed to creating amusement inadvertently.Collection: Creating
I asked you here tonight because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.Collection: Love
Restaurants are minefields for the socially ineptCollection: Restaurants
A woman at the rear of the room raised her hand. I was focused on the argument now and made a minor social error, which I quickly corrected. "The fat woman-overweight woman-at the back?"Collection: Errors
All of us have to make some accommodations and allowances if we are to live with another person.Collection: Allowance
You’re unbelievable,’ said Rosie. ‘Look at me when I’m talking.’ I kept looking out the window. I was already over-stimulated. ‘I know what you look like.Collection: Talking
Gene told me the next day that I got it wrong. But he was not in a taxi, after an evening of total sensory overload, with the most beautiful woman in the world. I believed I did well. I detected the trick question. I wanted Rosie to like me, and I remembered her passionate statement about men treating women as objects. She was testing to see if I saw her as an object or as a person. Obviously the correct answer was the latter. ‘I haven’t really noticed,’ I told the most beautiful woman in the world.Collection: Beautiful
You can’t go through life not listening to music.Collection: Listening
I know this song!’ Rosie laughed. ‘If you didn’t, that’d be the final proof that you’re from Mars.Collection: Song
What would you like?" "A skinny decaf latte." This is a ridiculous form of coffee, but I did not point it out.Collection: Coffee
Professor Tillman. Most of us here are not scientists, so you may need to be a little less technical.’ This sort of thing is incredibly annoying. People can tell you the supposed characteristics of a Gemini or a Taurus and will spend five days watching a cricket match, but cannot find the interest or the time to learn the basics of what they, as humans, are made up of.Collection: Cricket Match
I worked in information technology and academia for a long time and met many people who were better with things and ideas than with people.Collection: Technology
I set out to write a screenplay but, since my early 20s, had dreamed of writing a novel.Collection: Writing
I watched as Humphrey Bogart’s character used beans as a metaphor for the relative unimportance in the wider world of his relationship with Ingrid Bergman’s character, and chose logic and decency ahead of his selfish emotional desires. The quandary and resulting decision made for an engrossing film. But this was not what people cried about. They were in love and could not be together. I repeated this statement to myself, trying to force an emotional reaction. I couldn’t. I didn’t care. I had enough problems of my own.Collection: Selfish
I could not see the speedometer, and was not accustomed to travelling in an open vehicle, but I estimated that we were consistently exceeding the speed limit. Discordant sound, wind, risk of death—I tried to assume the mental state that I used at the dentist.Collection: Wind
So, to add to a momentous day, I corrected a misconception that my family had held for at least fifteen years and came out to them as straight.Collection: Years