Ruth Rendell Quotes

No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?

I always wanted to know what I'd face next, even though that was maybe a bit detrimental to spontaneity. Structuring my life and avoiding chaos was more important.

I always liked situations where there were very clear rules of what to do.

If you do the same thing every day at the same time for the same length of time, you'll save yourself from many a sink. Routine is a condition of survival.

The most unendurable thing, to be sure, the really terrible thing, would be a life without habits, a life which continually required improvisation.

Having a routine, knowing what to do, gives me a sense of freedom and keeps me from going crazy. It's calming.

I don't function well in chaos, whether it be my sheets or the dishwasher.

There is a comfort in rituals, and rituals provide a framework for stability when you are trying to find answers.

Part of me longs to do a job where there's not a gray area.

I thrive on structure. I find my freedom in structure.

Oddly, the military world is one of great sameness. There is an orderly quality to life on an army base, and even the children of the military are brought up with that sense of order and sameness.

Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. Like beams in a house or bones to a body, so is order to all things.

Routine is not organization, any more than paralysis is order.

I sometimes think I might be autistic because I like to know - I need to know - my beginnings and my ends. I don't have to be in control of it, but I need to know what's going on.

I'm a person who likes habit and knowing what my job is.

I like having a routine, because everything else... is so unpredictable.

It's all about consistency, and what makes a child or a dog secure: order, clarity - all those things.

I like things to have rules, I like order and I like schedules.

I will not serve lunch to anyone in the middle of a workday. I rarely rearrange my furniture or cabinets; once I find a drawer for something, it stays there. I don't garden. And I don't knit.

I like routine.

We're all seeking order. We're all seeking control.

I like it when things are where they're supposed to be.

I believe in routine.

I'm a worker bee, I like to have a schedule, I like to have a place to be, and a time, and a schedule - it just makes sense to me.

I like stability.