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 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• Therapy isn't Radio.We don't need to constantly fill the air with sounds. Sometimes, when its quite, surprising things happen.

  Mary Pipher

  Air, Sound, Needs

  Mary Pipher (2009). “Letters to a Young Therapist: Stories of Hope and Healing: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.49, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Perhaps the most surprising thing about mathematics is that it is so surprising. The rules which we make up at the beginning seem ordinary and inevitable, but it is impossible to foresee their consequences. These have only been found out by long study, extending over many centuries. Much of our knowledge is due to a comparatively few great mathematicians such as Newton, Euler, Gauss, or Riemann; few careers can have been more satisfying than theirs. They have contributed something to human thought even more lasting than great literature, since it is independent of language.

  Edward Charles Titchmarsh

  Independent, Careers, Long

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

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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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• The most surprising thing to me is what an incredibly intense effort it's been to create a world from the ground up. I had run a show that had already existed and had been created by the show-runner, Meredith [Stiehm]. It's a very different experience to come in at ground zero and meet people and assemble the cast and crew. As a group and as a family, we're creating this world.

  Veena Sud

  Running, Zero, Creating

  Source: collider.com

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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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• Desperation can make a person do surprising things.

  Veronica Roth

  Desperation, Surprising, Persons

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• Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.

  Jean Cocteau

  Light, Poetry, Roles

  "A Call to Order". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1926.

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