Surprising Quotes - Page 17

• I ignored my stand-up career for twenty-five years, but now, having finished this memoir, I view this time with surprising warmth. One can have, it turns out, an affection for the war years.

  Steve Martin

  War, Views, Years

  "Born Standing Up". Book by Steve Martin, www.npr.org. November 20, 2007.

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• But if everybody's trying to stay safe, then you never really create something new and different and surprising.

  Brian Henson

  Trying, Different, Safe

  Source: bigthink.com

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• In fact, the very nature of an X-event is that it is both rare and surprising. So I would not say that any specific X-event is likely. What I would say, though, is that some X-event is not only plausible, but very likely in a time scale of a few years.

  John L. Casti

  Years, Events, Facts

  "What If Everything Went Straight to Hell?". Interview with Austin Allen, bigthink.com.

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• Here in Brussels, we did everything to accommodate David Cameron's concerns. My collaborators and I personally spent countless days and nights negotiating an agreement that was fair toward the United Kingdom and toward the other 27 Member States. I was then very surprised to see that this settlement played no role whatsoever in the campaign in the United Kingdom. At the same time it is hardly surprising.

  Jean-Claude Juncker

  Night, Agreement, Kingdoms

  Source: www.businessinsider.com

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• I do think it [the Waitress] speaks in a positive way for women and it was surprising for me to see it for the first time as a movie all put together with music. I really liked it a lot.

  Keri Russell

  Thinking, Together, Way

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

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• In my talks in organizations around the world I ask, "What kind of leadership do we need now?" The most common responses are "adaptable," "flexible," and "innovative." This isn't surprising, in light of how fast and overwhelming is the pace of change in our world.

  Stewart D. Friedman

  Our World, Light, Organization

  Source: bobmorris.biz

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• Those...who insist that there are some moral limits that they will not violate, are forever surprising themselves.

  David Simon

  Forever, Limits, Moral

  David Simon, Edward Burns (2013). “The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood”, p.92, Broadway Books

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• God takes great delight in surprising His people with His goodness. He delights in being there for us, in coming through for us. He loves to give us the good gifts of His provision and grace that reveal to us His nature and His character.

  John Paul Jackson

  Character, People, Giving

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• I love to make people laugh, and do things that are surprising and different.

  Rachele Brooke Smith

  People, Laughing, Different

  Source: www.realstylenetwork.com

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• How you behave in one place, will help in surprising ways later.

  Charlie Munger

  Way, Helping, Behave

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• Surrender means cultivating a comfortable attitude toward not knowing, being nurtured by the mystery of moments that are dependably surprising, ever fresh.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Attitude, Mean, Knowing

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• I make it a personal rule never to do anything that I don't really care about. It is surprising how much this cuts out.

  Richard Koch

  Cutting, Care

  "Interview: Richard Koch, author of The 80/20 Principle". Interview with Avi Solomon, boingboing.net. MAy 12, 2011.

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• Everything is here for a purpose, from horses to vine shoots. What's surprising about that? Even the sun will tell you, "I have a purpose," and the other goods as well.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Horse, Purpose, Vines

  Marcus Aurelius (2002). “Meditations: A New Translation”, p.104, Modern Library

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• I think we have got to start again and go right back to first principles. The argument I shall advance, surprising as it may seem coming from the author of the earlier chapters, is that, for an understanding of the evolution of modern man, we must begin by throwing out the gene as the sole basis of our ideas on evolution. If there is only one Creator who made the tiger and the lamb, the cheetah and the gazelle, what is He playing at? Is he a sadist who enjoys spectator blood sports? ... Is he manuvering to maximize David Attenborough's television ratings?

  Richard Dawkins

  Sports, Men, Thinking

  Richard Dawkins (2006). “The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition”, p.191, OUP Oxford

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• One of the challenges of the show has always been trying to be surprising, and that was easy to do when nobody was watching it. Now that people have started watching it, they get ahead of us. We've all started really guarding the material, just to make it fun for the audience.

  Mitchell Hurwitz

  Fun, People, Challenges

  Source: collider.com

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• I don't tend to work directly from life, except in trying to mimic or match the outlines of its insanity. In other words, when I live through something, I just try to say to myself, "OK, remember this - life is really this crazy or scary or beautiful or surprising - so try to 'get at' that in your stories.

  George Saunders

  Beautiful, Crazy, Scary

  "George Saunders on Trump, Mystery, and Why He Rejects Social Media". Interview with Catherine Woodiwiss, sojo.net. August 30, 2016.

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• I'm pretty resigned to the fact that I never hear music the way anyone else does, and I no longer find it surprising.

  John Dieterich

  Doe, Way, Facts

  "Deerhoof". Interview with Joshua Klein, pitchfork.com. January 29, 2007.

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• I am surprising myself [at] each show, and the delivered piano often surprises me. Sometimes the piano is so old that I don't have to prepare it, and sometimes I have a concert grand!

  Volker Bertelmann

  Piano, Sometimes, Surprise

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• The most surprising fact that people do not know about breast cancer is that about 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a single relative with breast cancer. Much more than just family history and inherited genes factor into the breast cancer equation.

  Kristi Funk

  Cancer, People, Facts

  Source: www.marieclaire.com

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• You know that certain things that you use in the film are going to be shown to audiences five hundred times before they ever sit down to watch the movie. So you have to kind of modulate what can I do to give marketing enough material but that I can still withhold certain things so that it's fresh and surprising for the audience coming to see the movie.

  Christopher McQuarrie

  Giving, Marketing, Watches

  Source: collider.com

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• It is surprising that people are snapping photos and stuff and then putting them on the internet. For me, it is like, "Why would you want to do that?" It would be like knowing what your Christmas presents were before Christmas morning.

  Michael Shannon

  Morning, Knowing, People

  Source: collider.com

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• I've got a lot of things that are probably obvious, not much outside the box right now. But, I have been listening to a lot of classical music lately for some reason. I used to do that a lot when I was doing cabinet making in New England. I've sort of returned to that for some reason. That might be surprising to people.

  Hal Ketchum

  People, Listening, Might

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• Because we all know one of the main factors of war is the element of surprise. And what could be more surprising than the First Batallion Transvestite Brigade? Airborne Wing.

  Eddie Izzard

  War, Wings, Elements

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• The photographer, like an acrobat, must defy the laws of probability or even of possibility; at the limit, he must defy those of the interesting: the photograph becomes surprising when we do not know why it has been taken.

  Roland Barthes

  Taken, Law, Interesting

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• Who I really am keeps surprising me.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Nikki Giovanni (1988). “Sacred cows-- and other edibles”, William Morrow & Co

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