After an Indian meal they went back to Jamie's flat and Tony did at least two things to him on the sofa that no one had ever done to him before then came back and them again the following evening, and suddenly life became very good indeed.

— Mark Haddon

All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.

— Mark Haddon

Also, I didn't have 20/20 vision which you needed to be a pilot. But I said you could still want something that is very unlikely to happen.

— Mark Haddon

And all I could see would be stars. And stars are the places where the molecules that life is made of were constructed billions of years ago. For example, all the iron in your blood which stops you from being anemic was made in a star.

— Mark Haddon

And Father said, "Christopher, do you understand that I love you?" And I said "Yes," because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me.

— Mark Haddon

And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery…and I was brave, and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.

— Mark Haddon

And intuition is what people are what people use in life to make decisions. But logic can help you work out the right answer.

— Mark Haddon

And it's best if you know a good thing is going to happen, like an eclipse or getting a microscope for Christmas. And it's bad if you know a bad thing is going to happen, like having a filling or going to France. But I think it is worse if you don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing which is going to happen.

— Mark Haddon

And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal, and they will evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer, and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo. Or human beings will all catch a disease and die out, or they will make too much pollution and kill themselves, and then there will only be insects in the world, and they will be the best animal.

— Mark Haddon

And Siobhan says people go on holidays to see new things and relax, but it wouldn’t make me relaxed, and you can see new things by looking at earth under a microscope or drawing the shape of the solid made when 3 circular rods of equal thickness intersect at right angles. And I think that there are so many things just in one house that it would take years to think about all of them properly. And also, a thing is interesting because of thinking about it and not because of it being new.

— Mark Haddon