Surprise Quotes - Page 28

• Order and surprise: these are two intertwined elements that make for any great library or collection.

  Michael Dirda

  Order, Two, Library

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• I'm English, and as such I crave disappointment. That's why I buy Kinder Surprise. Horrible chocolate; nasty little toy: a double-whammy of disillusionment! Sometimes I eat the toy out of sheer despair.

  Bill Bailey

  Disappointment, Chocolate, Despair

  "Bewilderness". Documentary, Comedy, 2001.

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• Once we know the plot and its surprises, we can appreciate a book's artistry without the usual confusion and sap flow of emotion, content to follow the action with tenderness and interest, all passion spent.  Rather than surrender to the story or the characters - as a good first reader ought - we can now look at how the book works, and instead of swooning over it like a besotted lover begin to appreciate its intricacy and craftmanship.  Surprisingly, such dissection doesn't murder the experience.  Just the opposite: Only then does a work of art fully live.

  Michael Dirda

  Art, Book, Passion

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• I'd rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do.

  Helen Frankenthaler

  Risk, Ugly, Rely

  Helen Frankenthaler, Barbara Rose (1970*). “Frankenthaler”

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• Surprise and differentiation have far more impact than noise does.

  Seth Godin

  Impact, Doe, Differentiation

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• What a dull universe it would be if everything in it conformed to our expectations, if it held nothing to surprise or baffle us or confound our common sense. A century ago no one foresaw the existence of black holes, an expanding universe, oceans on Jupiter's moons, or DNA. What could be more enriching than to know that we share a common origin with all living things, that we are kin to chimpanzees, redwoods and mollusks? And isn't it a source of wonder to realize that the iron in our blood and the calcium in our bones were created in the bellies of supernovas?

  Steven Pinker

  Ocean, Moon, Dna

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• President Obama announced his re-election campaign, though it’s not really a surprise. He did all the things that make it official: He filed the paperwork, redesigned his website, and printed another fake birth certificate.

  Craig Ferguson

  Fake, President, Campaigns

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• I got nominated for a Tony, which was a complete surprise. It was an experience that I will always cherish

  Sanaa Lathan

  Cherish

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• Fundamentals that you read about are typically useless as the market has already discounted the price, and I call them “funny-mentals”. However, if you catch on early, before others believe, you might have valuable “surprise-a-mentals”.

  Ed Seykota

  Believe, Fundamentals, Useless

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• Great thinkers often learn, to their surprise, that new ideas are less than welcome.

  Gerd Gigerenzer

  Ideas, Welcome, Thinker

  Gerd Gigerenzer (2002). “Adaptive Thinking: Rationality in the Real World”, p.46, Oxford University Press

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• I am in a constant state of surprise these days. Actually, now that I calculate, I've been betrothed only one full day, but it seems like my whole life has come into being in the last twenty-four hours. Think of it! We could have gone on longing for one another and pretending not to notice forever. This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it

  Mary Ann Shaffer

  Thinking, Forever, Lasts

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• You can't keep putting the same stuff on all these channels, or it's going to get annoying. We need to aim for 'distinctive ubiquity,’ so we need to be everywhere but we need to continue to surprise and delight our customers in a relevant and consistent way wherever they are.

  Mark Schaefer

  Ubiquity, Needs, Delight

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• Ashton Ford will come as something of a surprise to those of you who have been with me over the years. This is not the same type of fiction that established my success as a novelist; Ford is not a gutbuster and he is not trying to save the world from anything but its own confusion. There are no grenade launchers or rockets to solve his problems and he is more of a lover than a fighter. I have grown, I hope, both as a person and as a writer, and I needed another vehicle to carry the creative quest. Ashton Ford is that vehicle.

  Don Pendleton

  Years, Confusion, Creative

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• Don’t think about happiness. If it doesn’t come, there’s no disappointment; if it does come, it’s a surprise.

  Bolesław Prus

  Disappointment, Thinking, Doe

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• It will probably surprise many who know nothing of Proudhon save his declaration that 'property is robbery' to learn that he was perhaps the most vigorous hater of Communism that ever lived on this planet. But the apparent inconsistency vanishes when you read his book and find that by property he means simply legally privileged wealth or the power of usury, and not at all the possession by the labourer of his products.

  Benjamin Tucker

  Book, Mean, Usury

  Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (1893). “Instead of a Book”, Ayer Company Pub

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• It should come as no surprise to readers of the MAPS Bulletin that psychedelic plants are used as a sacrament by many native cultures all over the world. It may not be so obvious that these same plants are often incorporated into the coming-of-age ceremonies of these various societies.

  Rick Doblin

  Age, Culture, World

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• The sound of a small bell during a dark night, is louder than the din of traffic outside your window during rush hour. Surprise and differentiation have far more impact than noise does.

  Seth Godin

  Dark, Night, Impact

  FaceBook post by Seth Godin from Dec 10, 2013

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• Extinction catches Man by surprise because no one can even imagine that such a catastrophe can happen to an intelligent species.

  Bill Gaede

  Men, Intelligent, Extinction

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• Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder have created a compelling vision for a Clean Tech Nation and a roadmap for creating it, even as they surprise and delight readers with a rich account of progress already achieved. I salute their unique combination of technical savvy, practical sense, and imperishable enthusiasm.

  Ralph Cavanagh

  Unique, Creating, Vision

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• I'm taking (the training) a little more seriously than I normally would to speed up the process. I don't care if people say I was a surprise pick. I feel like it's an honor and the people who made the decision to put me on the team know what they are talking about. To play for your country is something you can hold on to the rest of your life.

  Matt Holliday

  Country, Team, Talking

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• I search for surprise in my architecture. A work of art should cause the emotion of newness.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Art, Causes, Emotion

  "Oscar Niemeyer, architect of Brazil's capital, dies aged 104" by Jonathan Watts, www.theguardian.com. December 5, 2012.

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• Making clothes involves what I like...color, pattern, shape and movement...I like the everyday process...the people, the pressure, the surprise of seeing the work come alive walking and dancing around on strangers. Like red lipstick on the mouth, my products wake up and brighten and bring the wearer to life...drawing attention to her beauty and specialness...her moods and movements...her dreams and fantasies.

  Betsey Johnson

  Dream, Color, Drawing

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• Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change. Kindness that catches us by surprise brings out the best in our natures.

  Bob Kerrey

  Powerful, Kindness, Agents

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• When the doubters tell you it can't be done and all kind of tragedies will come your way, I say nonsense. If you can get to the very root of who you are and make something happen from it, my sense tells me you are going to surprise yourself.

  Vidal Sassoon

  Roots, Tragedy, Done

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• It may not be possible to 'win the future,' in President Obama's words, but if we're going to encourage more innovation, it's not enough for us to just dig in and work harder. We also need to encourage surprise and serendipity. We need to play each other's instruments.

  Steven Johnson

  Hard Work, Winning, Play

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