Surprising Things Quotes

• True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.

  Jean Cocteau

  Reality, Habit, Revealing

  "Le Mystère Laïc". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1928.

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• The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools.

  Doug Larson

  Funny, Wisdom, Survival

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• If an unusual necessity forces us onward, a surprising thing occurs. The fatigue gets worse up to a certain point, when, gradually or suddenly, it passes away and we are fresher than before!

  William James

  Perseverance, Passing Away, Unusual

  William James, Robert D Richardson (2010). “The Heart of William James”, p.267, Harvard University Press

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• I knew I'd miss you. But the surprising thing is, you never leave me. I never forget a thing. Every kind of love, it seems, is the only one. It doesn't happen twice. And I never expected that you could have a broken heart and love with it too, so much that it doesn't seem broken at all.

  Jodi Lynn Anderson

  Love, Heart, Broken

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• it is a surprising thing that the largest city in the world should have a population as gentle and pleasant and intimate and considerate and comforting as a little bit of a place where everybody knows everybody and everything, but astonishing or not it is perfectly true and the inhabitants of New York are just like that, and they are like that and this thing is a delightful, natural and gentle and sweet and comforting thing.

  Gertrude Stein

  Sweet, New York, Should Have

  Gertrude Stein (1974). “How Writing Is Written”

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• The surprising thing about fatherhood was finding my inner mush. Now I want to share it with the world.

  Christopher Meloni

  Father, World, Want

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• the main necessity on both sides of a revolution is kindness, which makes possible the most surprising things. To treat one's neighbor as oneself is the fundamental maxim for revolution.

  Freya Stark

  Kindness, Fundamentals, Revolution

  Freya Stark (1969). “The zodiac arch”

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• I think the most surprising thing about the Olympics would be the amount of interaction and partying that goes on behind the scenes. They have nightclubs at the Olympic Village. It's like college all over again.

  Misty May-Treanor

  Party, College, Thinking

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• Considering the absence of legal coercion, the surprising thing is that men have for so long, and, on the whole, so reliably, adhered to what we might call the breadwinner ethic.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Men, Long, Coercion

  Barbara Ehrenreich (2011). “The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment”, p.11, Anchor

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• One of the most surprising things in life is the sudden realization that one has become old

  Leon Trotsky

  Things In Life, Realization, Life Is

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• One of the surprising things that Brezhnev said when we were in our talks, was - when I proposed that we make these changes in nuclear weaponry, he said, "God will never forgive us if we don't succeed." And, you know, coming from the leader of an atheistic communist country, this surprised everyone.

  Jimmy Carter

  Country, Leader, Forgiving

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• The most surprising thing for my mother and father was when I was actually earning more money than them by the time I was about 18. They thought I was going to be the ne'er do well, who they'd have to keep worrying about.

  Diane Cilento

  Mother, Father, Worry

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• One of the surprising things I hadn't expected when I decided to write crime fiction is how much you are expected to be out in front of the public. Some writers aren't comfortable with that. I don't have a problem with that.

  Kathy Reichs

  Writing, Fiction, Problem

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• Writing a story requires you to understand how the world works, how characters think, how their emotions drive them to do surprising things, and so on. In other words, as a writer, you have to be more than a stylist. You need to learn to become a master of storytelling.

  David Farland

  Writing, Character, Thinking

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• When I was younger, I was always described as happy-go-lucky. Then I drank and I partied - did all that stuff that might tell you maybe there was a little bit of untruth in that [description]. Now, the surprising thing is that when I say stuff, I actually mean it. I don't have to do the work of trying to formulate my point of view. It just is. And it's surprising how much I love life. I just really have a good time.

  Michael J. Fox

  Love Life, Mean, Views

  Interview with Rosemary Ellis, www.goodhousekeeping.com. February 18, 2009.

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• Perhaps the most surprising thing about mathematics is that it is so surprising.

  Edward Charles Titchmarsh

  Math, Logic, Surprising

  "Mathematical Maxims and Minims". Book by Nicholas J. Rose, 1986.

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• The surprising thing is that I was not funny in high school. I was always jealous of the funny kids because they always got the girls. I couldn't tell a joke to save my life.

  Sean William Scott

  Girl, Jealous, School

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• The surprising thing about this paper is that a man who could write it would.

  John Edensor Littlewood

  Writing, Math, Science

  John Edensor Littlewood, Béla Bollobás (1986). “Littlewood's Miscellany”, p.59, Cambridge University Press

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• Landing the role of Stephen Hawking was the most positively surprising thing that has happened to me.

  Benedict Cumberbatch

  Roles, Landing, Surprising

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• One of the surprising things in this world is the respect a worthless man has for himself.

  E. W. Howe

  Respect, Men, Literature

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• I had found a new friend. The surprising thing is where I’d found him – not up a tree or sulking in the shade, or splashing around in one of the hill streams, but in a book. No one had told us kids to look there for a friend. Or that you could slip inside the skin of another. Or travel to another place with marshes, and where, to our ears, the bad people spoke like pirates.

  Lloyd Jones

  Book, Kids, People

  Lloyd Jones (2011). “Mister Pip”, p.23, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place.

  Frances Hodgson Burnett

  Two, Mind, Courageous

  Frances Hodgson Burnett (2015). “The Secret Garden”, p.224, Xist Publishing

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• In this dark world where he now dwelt, ugly things and surprising things and once in a long while a tiny wondrous thing spilled out at him constantly; he could count on nothing.

  Philip K. Dick

  Dark, Ugly Things, Long

  Philip K. Dick (2011). “A Scanner Darkly”, p.65, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I thought I might cry, the way you do when someone gives you some kindness when you most need it but when it seems the most surprising thing.

  Deb Caletti

  Kindness, Giving, Needs

  Deb Caletti (2012). “Stay”, p.152, Simon and Schuster

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• The pain, so unexpected and undeserved, had for some reason cleared away the cobwebs. I realized I didn’t hate the cabinet door, I hated my life… My house, my family, my backyard, my power mower. Nothing would ever change; nothing new could ever be expected. It had to end, and it did. Now in the dark world where I dwell, ugly things, and surprising things, and sometimes little wondrous things, spill out in me constantly, and I can count on nothing.

  Philip K. Dick

  Pain, Hate, Dark

  "A Scanner Darkly". Book by Philip K. Dick, 1977.

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