Surprise Quotes - Page 18

• The name says it all. That's where Dad (Hades) tries out his new punishment ideas, but he says the traditional ones still work best: the lava flows, the minefields full of exploding surprises, burning at the stake, running naked through cactus patches... You name it, we've got it here - Nico di Angelo

  Rick Riordan

  Running, Dad, Punishment

  27 Copy quote

• No matter that you anticipate a thing; you get so used to it as part of the future that its actuality, its arrival, its force and presence, startles you, takes you by surprise, as would a ghost suddenly appearing in the room wearing familiar perfume and boots.

  Lorrie Moore

  Boots, Matter, Rooms

  FaceBook post by Lorrie Moore from Sep 11, 2014

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The most interesting thing about writing is the way that it obliterates time. Three hours seem like three minutes. Then there is the business of surprise. I never know what is coming next. The phrase that sounds in the head changes when it appears on the page. Then I start probing it with a pen, finding new meanings. Sometimes I burst out laughing at what is happening as I twist and turn sentences. Strange business, all in all. One never gets to the end of it. That’s why I go on, I suppose. To see what the next sentences I write will be.

  Gore Vidal

  Writing, Laughing, Interesting

  5 Copy quote

• I am Abhorsen..." He looked at the baby again and added, almost with a note of surprise, "Father of Sabriel

  Garth Nix

  Baby, Father, Notes

  Garth Nix (2014). “Sabriel”, p.10, Hot Key Books

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Jake leaned on the horn, swearing loudly. Gina covered her eyes. Doc flung his arms around me, burying his face in my lap, and Dopey, to my great surprise, began to scream like a girl, very close to my ear.

  Meg Cabot

  Girl, Eye, Jake

  Meg Cabot (2009). “Mean Spirits”, p.158, Pan Macmillan

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• true humility is when you can surprise yourself more than others; the rest is either shyness or good marketing

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  Humility, Marketing, Shyness

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2010). “The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms”, p.61, Random House

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere — "Bibles laid open, millions of surprises," as Herbert says, "fine nets and stratagems." God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.

  C. S. Lewis

  Atheist, Reading, Men

  8 Copy quote

• You gave me back the paradise That I thought I lost for good You helped me find the reasons why It took me by surprise that you understood You knew all along What I never wanted to say Until I learned to love myself I was never ever lovin' anybody else.

  Madonna Ciccone

  Paradise, Reason Why, Love Myself

  4 Copy quote

• We are our own greatest surprise.

  Paulo Coelho

  4 Copy quote

• What a wonderfully exciting cough,' said the little man, quite startled by it, 'do you mind if I join you?' And with that he launched into the most extraordinary and spectacular fit of coughing which caught Arthur so much by surprise that he started to choke violently, discovered he was already doing it and got thoroughly confused.

  Douglas Adams

  Confused, Men, Mind

  Douglas Adams (2009). “Life, the Universe and Everything”, p.102, Pan Macmillan

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Shebna scraped the tablet clean and began drawing circles in the soft clay. "Suppose you had six figs and you ate two. How many would--" "Four." Hezekiah answered before Shebna finished, and the tutor's thick black eyebrows rose in surprise. "And suppose I had five figs. How many would we--" "Nine." "Have you done this before?" Hezekiah thought the question was ridiculous. "I've eaten figs lots of times.

  Lynn Austin

  Eyebrows, Circles, Two

  Lynn Austin (2016). “The Chronicles of the Kings Collection: Five Novels in One”, p.129, Baker Books

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• What's happened to me,' he thought. It was no dream.

  Franz Kafka

  Dream, Metamorphosis, Happened

  Franz Kafka (2016). “Collected Works (Complete Editions: The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, The Trial, ...)”, p.2, Franz Kafka

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I see all this talent, all this...this energy and brightness and...potential. Yes. Potential. And I cannot for the life of me see how you can be content to live this tiny life. This life that will take place almost entirely within a five mile radius and contain nobody who will ever surprise you or push you or show you things that will leave your head spinning and unable to sleep at night.

  Jojo Moyes

  Sleep, Night, Tiny

  4 Copy quote

• Scott noticed Will staring at it and grinned. "Like what you see?" Woolsey Scott asked. "I do enjoy these surprise midnight declarations. Go along, have at it.

  Cassandra Clare

  Midnight, Enjoy, Staring

  4 Copy quote

• Déjà vu is more than just that fleeting moment of surprise, instantly forgotten because we never bother with things that make no sense. It show that time doesn't pass. It's a leap into something we have already experienced and that is being repeated.

  Paulo Coelho

  Fleeting, Forgotten, Moments

  6 Copy quote

• May I ask you something?" I say. "Why do you read books, when you could be outside, living a million different adventures every day?" "Because you can always count on a book to stay the same. EVerything else changes when you least expect it," she replies, bitter. "Families split apart, and nothing's forever. In books, you always know what's coming next. There are no surprises.

  Jodi Picoult

  Book, Adventure, Forever

  4 Copy quote

• Sometimes people surprise us. People we believe we know.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Believe, People, Sometimes

  4 Copy quote

• It was a perfectly normal May Day, but Sophie was scared of that too. And when a young man in a fantastical blue-and-silver costume spotted Sophie and decided to accost her as well, Sophie shrank into a shop doorway and tried to hide. The young man looked at her in surprise. "It's all right, you little gray mouse," he said laughing rather pityingly. "I only want to buy you a drink. Don't look so scared.

  Diana Wynne Jones

  Men, Perfectly Normal, Blue

  4 Copy quote

• It is on a day like this one, a little later, a little earlier, that you discover, without surprise, that something is wrong, that, without mincing words, you don't know how to live, that you will never know.

  Georges Perec

  Days Like This, Littles, Know How

  "Things: A Story of the Sixties".

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm already waiting when Puck gets to the top of the cliffs. I'm not the only one; about two dozen race tourists have made perches out of rocks, watching Corr and me as closely as they dare. Puck glares at them all, searing enough that some of them flinch in surprise. I'm not certain what to expect from her after last night. I don't know how to address her. I don't know what she expects from me or what I expect from me. What I get is a wordless hello and a November cake in my hand.

  Maggie Stiefvater

  Night, Two, Race

  4 Copy quote

• Real travel requires a maximum of unscheduled wandering, for there is no other way of discovering surprises and marvels, which, as I see it, is the only good reason for not staying at home.

  Alan Watts

  Real, Home, Way

  Alan Watts (2011). “The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are”, p.31, Souvenir Press

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• You know how to be a good boy?" Anna widened her eyes in surprise. "Why, Archer, I'm certain I never recognized that quality in you.

  Lora Leigh

  Archer, Eye, Boys

  14 Copy quote

• There's no time to be modest. Reason will not work here. Without warning, I kiss Kartik. His lips, pressed firmly against mine, are a surprise. They are warm, light as breath, firm as the give of a peach against my mouth. A scent like scorched cinnamon hangs in the air, but I'm not falling into any vision. It's his smell in me. A smell that makes my stomach drop through my feet. A smell that pushes all thought out of my head and replaces it with an overpowering hunger for more.

  Libba Bray

  Fall, Kissing, Light

  Libba Bray (2010). “A Great and Terrible Beauty”, p.133, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It will happen when you're not looking for it. Love likes to take you by surprise.

  Elizabeth Berg

  Likes, Happens

  Berg, Elizabeth Berg (2013). “Until The Real Thing Comes Along”, p.43, Random House

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Impulsively, she leaned across the truck and kissed him on the cheek. He glanced over in surprise when she pulled away, but pleasure glowed in his eyes. "What was that for?" "Just seemed like the thing to do," she said. "Well, feel free to do it more often," he encouraged. "I assure you I won't mind.

  Maya Banks

  Eye, Mind, Truck

  Maya Banks (2012). “Shades of Gray: A KGI Novel”, p.116, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

  Show source