method to one's madness

English

Noun

method to one's madness (plural methods to one's madness)

1. (idiomatic) A well-thought-out reason for an individual's seemingly illogical behavior.
   • 1920 October, Agatha Christie, “The Arrest”, in The Mysterious Affair at Styles […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1927, page 218:

     Sometimes, I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter; and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is method in his madness.

   • 1938, Henry John Otto, compiler, Changes in Classroom Teaching, 1936-1937: The Administrative Problems, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, page 15:

     "Why is my child not reading in his own book? I bought the books—you see that he reads them!" talked to these parents and convinced them that there really was a "method to my madness". I wanted attractive pre-primers—small books with easy reading material – something to attract his attention to books. Give the child confidence in his first attempts.

   • 2009, Christopher Black, Memoir of a Teenage Love Affair, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 13:

     Usually there is a method to my madness. I usually have a profound reason as to why I write. Tonight, I do not.

   • 2010, Charles B. Lawless, The Tyro Dossier: Beginning Principles for Young Asset Managers to ..., Dorrance Publishing, →ISBN, page 26:

     I would also like to think that there is, indeed, a method to my madness, and that stems from being a natural at “out of the box” thinking.

   • 2011, Ray S. Coco, The Noblest Volume Ii: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 198:

     Eventually I came up with my idea as there's always been a method to my madness.

   • 2015, Roger Lipp, Happy Habits for Every Couple: 21 Days to a Better Relationship, Harvest House Publishers, →ISBN, page 35:

     If 21 days seems like an arbitrary amount of time, let me explain the method to my madness. We've all heard the old adage that it takes 21 days to either make or break a habit, and I've found this to be true in many areas of my life.