Surprise Quotes - Page 14

• THE NOTE said the first clue was "in the big one." I looked at the jumble of letters that followed, and I saw no pattern. Not such a surprise, since I was missing the puzzle chromosome and couldn't do puzzles designed for nine-year-olds.

  Janet Evanovich

  Years, Missing, Letters

  Janet Evanovich (2007). “More Plums in One: Four to Score, High Five, and Hot Six”, p.25, Macmillan

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• If I've learned anything in twenty-nine years, it's that every human being you see in the course of a day has a problem that's sucking up at least 70 percent of his or her radar. My gift - bad choice of words - is that I can look at you, him, her, them, whoever, and tell right away what is keeping them awake at night: money; feelings of insignificance; overwhelming boredom; evil children; job troubles; or perhaps death, in one of its many costumes, perched in the wings. What surprises me about humanity is that in the end such a narrow range of plights defines our moral lives.

  Douglas Coupland

  Jobs, Children, Night

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• What surprises me about humanity is that in the end such a narrow range of plights defines our moral lives.

  Douglas Coupland

  Humanity, Plight, Moral

  "Hey Nostradamus!". Book by Douglas Coupland, 2003.

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• Cowardece is often just another name for being taken by surprise.

  Gregory David Roberts

  Taken, Names, Shantaram

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• Jo began to dance a jig,...Amy nearly fell out of the window in her surprise, and Meg exclaimed, with uplifted hands, 'Well I do believe the world is coming to an end!

  Louisa May Alcott

  Believe, Hands, Amy

  Louisa May Alcott (2001). “Little Women”, p.101, Broadview Press

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• When you've come face-to-face with the dark side of the school yard, life doesn't hold many surprises.

  Eoin Colfer

  School, Dark, Yards

  Eoin Colfer (2007). “Half Moon Investigations”, Disney-Hyperion

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• Momma, you're special," Renesmee told me without any surprise, like she was commenting on the color of my clothes.

  Stephenie Meyer

  Color, Clothes, Special

  Stephenie Meyer (2009). “Breaking Dawn: Twilight”, p.348, Hachette UK

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• Sit down, Will. There’s a good fellow,” he said. “Yes, sir,” replied Will, and Halt’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “He’s never called me sir,” he said. “Probably trying to get on my good side,” Crowley replied. Halt nodded savagely. “Probably.

  John Flanagan

  Eyebrows, Trying, Sides

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• I sighed and stared off without any particular focus. "I miss him so much." "I'm sorry," she said. "Will it ever get better?" The question seemed to catch her by surprise. "I...I don't know.

  Richelle Mead

  Sorry, Focus, Missing

  Richelle Mead (2013). “Vampire Academy: The Complete Collection”, p.659, Penguin

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• A new baby! Why, Scarlett, this is a surprise!” he laughed, leaning down to push the blanket away from Ella Lorena's small ugly face." - Rhett Butler

  Margaret Mitchell

  Baby, Ugly, Faces

  Margaret Mitchell (2016). “Gone with the Wind”, p.494, Hamilton Books

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• He found Luciana sitting alone at a table in the Allied officers' night club, where the drunken Anzac major who had brought her there had been stupid enough to desert her for the ribald company of some singing comrades at the bar. "All right, I'll dance with you," she said, before Yossarian could even speak. "But I won't let you sleep with me." "Who asked you?" Yossarian asked her. "You don't want to sleep with me?" she exclaimed with surprise. "I don't want to dance with you.

  Joseph Heller

  Stupid, Sleep, Night

  Joseph Heller (2010). “Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition”, p.206, Simon and Schuster

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• I knew he was unreliable, but he was fun to be with. He was a child’s ideal companion, full of surprises and happy animal energy. He enjoyed food and drink. He liked to try new things. He brought home coconuts, papayas, mangoes, and urged them on our reluctant conservative selves. On Sundays he liked to discover new places, take us on endless bus or trolley rides to some new park or beach he knew about. He always counseled daring, in whatever situation, the courage to test the unknown, an instruction that was thematically in opposition to my mother’s.

  E. L. Doctorow

  Mother, Beach, Children

  E.L. Doctorow (2010). “World's Fair: A Novel”, p.15, Random House

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• Since a good part of my life has been wasted dealing with fools just like them, it's not worry I feel but weariness as I watch the approach of one more episode in the old, tired story of men who try to beat life, the smart ones who think they know it all and die with a look of surprise on their faces: at the final moment they always see the truth - they never really understood anything, never held anything in their hands. An old story, old and boring.

  Álvaro Mutis

  Smart, Tired, Men

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• To Cam surprise, she was smiling up at him steadily, her eyes midnight. His expression turned quizzical. "What's so amus­ing?" Amelia toyed with a button on his coat. "I was just thinking . . . tonight those two old hens will probably go to their beds, cold and alone." An impish grin curved her lips. "Whereas I will be with a wicked, handsome Rom who will keep me warm all night.

  Lisa Kleypas

  Eye, Night, Thinking

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• My friend is not allowed to go out today. I sit by his side and read him passages from his own life. They fill him with surprise. Everyone should keep someone else's diary; I sometimes suspect you of keeping mine.

  Oscar Wilde

  Diaries, Today, Sides

  Oscar Wilde (1962). “Letters”

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• The female mind is certainly a devious one, my lord." Vetinari looked at his secretary in surprise. "Well, of course it is. It has to deal with the male one.

  Terry Pratchett

  Mind, Males, Female

  Terry Pratchett (2016). “Seriously Funny: The Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett”, p.22, Random House

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• When they came to harvest my corpse (open your mouth, close your eyes) cut my body from the rope, surprise, surprise: I was still alive. Tough luck, folks, I know the law: you can't execute me twice for the same thing. How nice. I fell to the clover, breathed it in, and bared my teeth at them in a filthy grin. You can imagine how that went over. Now I only need to look out at them through my sky-blue eyes. They see their own ill will staring then in the forehead and turn tail Before, I was not a witch. But now I am one.

  Margaret Atwood

  Nice, Eye, Cutting

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• Not really a party until someone brings the surprise zombies.

  Sarah Rees Brennan

  Party, Zombie

  Sarah Rees Brennan (2010). “The Demon's Covenant”, p.411, Simon and Schuster

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• She stretched out her hand, saying, “Vernon! My dear, what a delightful surprise!” “What’s surprising about it?” he enquired, lifting his black brows. “Didn’t you ask me to come?” The smile remained pinned to Lady Buxted’s lips, but she replied with more than a touch of acidity: “To be sure I did, but so many days ago that I supposed you had gone out of town!” “Oh, no!” he said, returning her smile with one of great sweetness.

  Georgette Heyer

  Hands, Black, Gone

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• Subby Subby Subby," whispered Goss. "Keep those little bells on your slippers as quiet as you can. Sparklehorse and Starpink have managed to creep out of Apple Palace past all the monkeyfish, but if we're silent as tiny goblins we can surprise them and then all frolic off together in the Meadow of Happy Kites.

  China Mieville

  Past, Kraken, Apples

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• How odd, to suddenly glimpse a facet of me I didn't know existed. I guess it really isn't all that unusual to surprise oneself with an ugly bit of ego.

  Ellen Hopkins

  Ego, Glimpse, Ugly

  Ellen Hopkins (2008). “Identical”, p.204, Simon and Schuster

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• I was born into all that, all that mess, the over-crowded swamp and the over-crowded sematary and the not-crowded-enough town, so I don’t remember nothing, don’t remember a world without Noise. My pa died of sickness before I was born and then my ma died, of course, no surprises there. Ben and Cillian took me in, raised me. Ben says my ma was the last of the women but everyone says that about everyone’s ma. Ben may not be lying, he believes it’s true, but who knows?

  Patrick Ness

  Lying, Believe, World

  Patrick Ness (2008). “The Knife of Never Letting Go”, Candlewick Press (MA)

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• Nick shook his head and found to his surprise that he did have tears left after all. He wasn't surprised by a talking cat. The world was crumbling around him and anything could happen.

  Garth Nix

  Cat, Talking, Tears

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• Squirrelflight rested her tail on his shoulder, urging him to lie still until his injuries could be treated. Brambleclaw led Stormfur and Brook up to Firestar. The Clan leader's eyes stretched wide in surprise. "Stormfur...and Brook! What are you doing here?" "There'll be time to explain later," Stormfur meowed. "For now, Firestar, put us to work.

  Erin Hunter

  Lying, Eye, Leader

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• The universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. There is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.

  Terry Pratchett

  Memories, Eye, Heart

  Terry Pratchett (2016). “Seriously Funny: The Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett”, p.73, Random House

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