Top 140 Graeme Simsion Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Once the label has been applied, even conventional behaviour and achievements are seen as weird, since they are not expected of a weird person.”

— Graeme Simsion

52. “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.”

— Graeme Simsion

53. “An inability, or reduced ability, to empathise is not the same as an inability to love. Love is a powerful feeling for another person, often defying logic.”

— Graeme Simsion

54. “Her red hair was spiky like some new species of cactus. I have heard the word stunning used to describe women, but this was the first time I had actually been stunned by one.”

— Graeme Simsion

55. “Hurtling back to town, in a red Porsche driven by a beautiful woman, with the song playing, I had the sense of standing on the brink of another world.”

— Graeme Simsion

56. “Rationally, it seems the obvious thing to do. Which is frequently a trap in situations involving humans.”

— Graeme Simsion

57. “My questionnaire would be ruthless in filtering out women who were concerned with appearance.”

— Graeme Simsion

58. “I began the second half of my life by making coffee.”

— Graeme Simsion

59. “But I had concluded that being myself, with all my intrinsic flaws, was more important than having the thing I wanted most.”

— Graeme Simsion

60. “Rational argument seldom overcame irrational resistance.”

— Graeme Simsion

61. “You both think her work’s more important than me?” “At a global level, yes. If it saves at least two lives, which is likely, then rationally it’s more important. But your mother and I place a huge weighting on your welfare because you’re our son. Fortunately, you have two parents, and I can function as backup. I can perform all tasks that your mother performs.”

— Graeme Simsion

62. “If you’re intellectually capable, it’s advisable to become an expert on your own body and treatments,’ I said. ‘Medical practitioners observe you far less frequently than you observe yourself. Also, they care less. With children and people with diminished cognitive function, we may need to take that role on their behalf.”

— Graeme Simsion

63. “Most adults with Asperger’s syndrome don’t know they have it.”

— Graeme Simsion

64. “Get this in your head, you are not responsible for the consequences of other people’s decisions.”

— Graeme Simsion

65. “When someone sends you an email conveying information, you should reply, even if no reply seems logically necessary.”

— Graeme Simsion

66. “A few times in my life, I have been manipulated by the sexual power of a woman. “Could you help with my assignment?” I’ll do it for you. “I don’t know why they’ve given me middle seat.” Take mine. “I thought the trains would still be running.” Let me drive your home. No promises, no offers, nothing expected in return.”

— Graeme Simsion

67. “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?””

— Graeme Simsion

68. “I took her in the standard jive hold that I had practised on the skeleton, and immediately felt the awkwardness, approaching revulsion, that I feel when forced into intimate contact with another human.”

— Graeme Simsion

69. “If I’m going to be judged, I want to be judged by someone I respect.”

— Graeme Simsion

70. “I learned that it is important to know not only what to hold on to and what to let go of, but what to go back for.”

— Graeme Simsion

71. “It is generally accepted that people enjoy surprises: hence the traditions associated with Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries. In my experience, most of the pleasure accrues to the giver. The victim is frequently under pressure to feign, at short notice, a positive response to an unwanted object or unscheduled event.”

— Graeme Simsion

72. “Resilience appeared to be the equivalent of toughening up, which, when I was a child, was a general excuse for bullying.”

— Graeme Simsion

73. “It may have been due to the effect of the gordo blanco on my cognitive functions, but I was suddenly overwhelmed by an extraordinary feeling – not of satisfaction but of absolute joy. It was the feeling I had in the Museum of Natural History and when I was making cocktails. We started dancing again, and this time I allowed myself to focus on the sensations of my body moving to the beat of the song from my childhood and of Rosie moving to the same rhythm.”

— Graeme Simsion

74. “We’re scientists,” I reminded him. “We shouldn’t be defeated by problems. If we think hard enough, a solution will present itself.”

— Graeme Simsion

75. “I was not concerned about the dancing – I was confident that I could draw on my experience from preparing for martial arts competitions, with the supplementary advantage of an optimum intake of alcohol, which for martial arts is not permitted.”

— Graeme Simsion

76. “I know this song!’ Rosie laughed. ‘If you didn’t, that’d be the final proof that you’re from Mars.”

— Graeme Simsion

77. “It was odd, paradoxical-crazy-that what Rosie seemed to value most about me, a highly organized person who avoided uncertainty and liked to plan in detail, was that my behavior generated unpredictable consequences. But if that was what she loved, I was not going to argue. What I was going to argue was that she should not abandon something she valued.”

— Graeme Simsion

78. “I was not wired to feel love. And faking it was not acceptable. Not to me. I had feared that Rosie would not love me. Instead, it was I who could not love Rosie.”

— Graeme Simsion

79. “And the pursuit of fun does not lead to overall contentment. Studies have shown this consistently.”

— Graeme Simsion

80. “I watched as she took a second sip, imagining alcohol crossing the placental wall, damaging brain cells, reducing our unborn child from a future Einstein to a physicist who would fall just short of taking science to a new level. A child who would never have the experience described by Richard Feynman of knowing something about the universe that no one had before.”

— Graeme Simsion

81. “I explained that I had a special O-1 Visa for Aliens of Extraordinary Ability. I had needed a visa after the occasion when I was refused entry and this was deemed the safest choice. O-1 visas were quite rare and ‘yes’ was the correct answer to any question about the extraordinariness of my abilities. Rosie found the word ‘alien’ amusing. Correction, hilarious.”

— Graeme Simsion

82. “Kellie’s concern with Hudson being coached seemed unreasonable. None of us is expert in all situations. It is a sign of intelligence to recognize our limitations and of maturity to seek help when required. The school had zero problem with him being coached in the physical aspects of the cross-country run but apparently would have thought him deficient if he had sought help with the psychological component.”

— Graeme Simsion

83. “All of us have to make some accommodations and allowances if we are to live with another person.”

— Graeme Simsion

84. “The restaurant in the Upper East Side was within walking distance, though Gene and Rosie seemed to struggle for the final twenty blocks. Both needed to work on their fitness.”

— Graeme Simsion

85. “If you shut yourself down, you’re wasting two days of your life that someone is trying to make exciting and productive and fun for you.”

— Graeme Simsion

86. “Look,” I said, “there are plenty of people in the world who believe our destiny is in the hands of some old white guy sitting above us dealing out rewards and punishment like... some old white guy. What I believe makes more sense than that. Some things are meant to be. Fate, destiny, karma-whatever you want to call it. The universe has plans- we just aren’t smart enough to know how it works.”

— Graeme Simsion

87. “But my strategy was to minimize the chance of making a type-one error – wasting time on an unsuitable choice. Inevitably, that increased the risk of a type-two error – rejecting a suitable person. But this was an acceptable risk as I was dealing with a very large population.”

— Graeme Simsion

88. “Don, problems that originate in childhood are never solved. Psychotherapists make a living out of that.”

— Graeme Simsion

89. “It was only later that I realised that I had experienced extended close contact with another human without feeling uncomfortable. I attributed it to my concentration on correctly executing the dance steps.”

— Graeme Simsion

90. “None of us is expert in all situations. It is a sign of intelligence to recognize our limitations and of maturity to seek help when required.”

— Graeme Simsion

91. “I accepted that I was wired differently than most people, or, more precisely, that my wiring was toward one end of a spectrum of different human configurations. My innate logical skills were significantly greater than my interpersonal skills.”

— Graeme Simsion

92. “It’s better to learn from people who have had to work hard to achieve their skills, rather than the naturally talented.”

— Graeme Simsion

93. “Academics always think they can do any job better, until they try it.”

— Graeme Simsion

94. “Dishonesty was part of the price of being a social animal, and of marriage in particular.”

— Graeme Simsion

95. “Medical students. Almost scientists. Pseudo-scientists. I can have fascinating arguments with them.”

— Graeme Simsion

96. “Rationality was returning to deal with the mess that emotions had created.”

— Graeme Simsion

97. “In marriage reason frequently had to take second place to Harmony.”

— Graeme Simsion

98. “It was obvious that Rosie was confused by emotions, and I respected her attempt to overcome them.”

— Graeme Simsion

99. “There was an extraordinary amount to process, and my brain was now functioning normally, or at least int the manner that I was accustomed to. The meltdown was perhaps the psychological equivalent of a reboot following an overload.”

— Graeme Simsion

100. “Lost love belongs in a three-minute song, pullling back feelings from a time when they came unbidden, recalling the infatuation, the walking on sunshine that cannot last and the pain of its loss, whether through parting or the passage of time, reminding us that we are emotional beings.”

— Graeme Simsion