there's method in madness



there's method in somebody's madness

  (British, American & Australian) also there's a method to somebody's madness (American)
something that you say which means that although someone seems to be behaving strangely, there is a reason for their behaviour
Usage notes: This phrase comes from Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet'.
When he picked the side I thought he must be crazy but, judging by their performance this season, there's obviously method in his madness.
See also: madness, method

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Waldobert-Ancient Germanic
VladimÍR-Czech, Slovak
SintaSEEN-tahIndonesian, Javanese
Dorotheado-ro-TE-ah (German), dawr-ə-THEE-ə (English)German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, English, Late Greek
Jaroslavas-Lithuanian
Yishai-Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew