Surprising Quotes - Page 27

• You're...a demon hunter?' 'It's not as exciting as it sounds,' he said. 'There is a surprising amount of paperwork involved.

  Maureen Johnson

  Sound, Hunters, Demon

  Maureen Johnson (2006). “Devilish”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• At such close range, even she could hit a vampire full force in the shoulder, surprising him considerably. He paused in his attack. “Well, my word! You can’t threaten me, you’re pregnant!

  Gail Carriger

  Vampire, Range, Force

  4 Copy quote

• Tessa, surprising herself, let out a gasp of laughter. Will looked at her, his mouth just beginning to quirk up in a grin. "I must be more amusing than I thought. Which would make me very amusing indeed.

  Cassandra Clare

  Laughter, Mouths, Amusing

  Cassandra Clare (2013). “The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess”, p.666, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Her face ... was a one-of-a-kind, a surprising variation on a familiar theme - a variation that made observers think, Yes - that would be another very nice way for people to look. What Beatrice had done with her face, actually, was what any plain girl could do. She overlaid it with dignity, suffering, intelligence, and a piquant dash of bitchiness.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Girl, Nice, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• I believe in the pursuit of happiness. Not its attainment, nor its final definition, but its pursuit. I believe in the journey, not the arrival; in conversation, not monologues; in multiple questions rather than any single answer. I believe in the struggle to remake ourselves and challenge each other in the spirit of eternal forgiveness, in the awareness that none of us knows for sure what happiness truly is, but each of us knows the imperative to keep searching. I believe in the possibility of surprising joy, of serenity through pain, of homecoming through exile.

  Andrew Sullivan

  Pain, Believe, Struggle

  13 Copy quote

• With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact it’s essential to slow down and read every word. Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly is the seemingly obvious but oddly underappreciated fact that language is the medium we use in much the same way a composer uses notes, the way a painter uses paint. I realize it may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how easily we lose sight of the fact that words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted.

  Francine Prose

  Reading, Sight, Temptation

  6 Copy quote

• The light, the sky, the water, they were all things you looked *through* during the day. At night, they were things you looked *into*. You looked *into* the stars, you looked *into* dark rollers and the surprising platinum flash of their caps.

  Adam Johnson

  Stars, Dark, Night

  Adam Johnson (2012). “The Orphan Master's Son”, p.41, Random House

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is surprising that people do not believe that there is imagination in science. It is a very interesting kind of imagination, unlike that of the artist. The great difficulty is in trying to imagine something that you have never seen, that is consistent in every detail with what has already been seen, and that is different from what has been thought of; furthermore, it must be definite and not a vague proposition. That is indeed difficult.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Believe, Artist, People

  "The Quotable Feynman".

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't hate it here," she said automatically. Surprising herself, she realized that as much as she'd been trying to convince herself otherwise, she was telling the truth. "It's just that I don't belong here." He gave her a meloncholy smile. "If it's any consolation, when I was growing up, I didn't feel like I belonged here, either. I dreamed about going to New York. But it's strange, because when I finally escaped this place, I ended up missing it more than I thought I would. There's something about the ocean that just calls to me.

  Nicholas Sparks

  New York, Growing Up, Hate

  Nicholas Sparks (2009). “The Last Song”, p.113, Hachette UK

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Not only in geometry, but to a still more astonishing degree in physics, has it become more and more evident that as soon as we have succeeded in unraveling fully the natural laws which govern reality, we find them to be expressible by mathematical relations of surprising simplicity and architectonic perfection. It seems to me to be one of the chief objects of mathematical instruction to develop the faculty of perceiving this simplicity and harmony.

  Hermann Weyl

  Beauty, Art, Reality

  Hermann Weyl (1950). “Space, Time, Matter”, p.23, Courier Corporation

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  9 Copy quote

• Michaelangelo said the mirror is our greatest teacher. My use of mirrors in my work helps me uncover psychic layers. Often, the face is distorted in the mirror so it is much more than a simple reflection. Sometimes something surprising emerges - some darkness or secret appears without us knowing why or giving it permission.

  Joyce Tenneson

  Photography, Teacher, Reflection

  4 Copy quote

• I believe a person of any fine feeling scarcely ever sees a new face without a sensation akin to a shock, for the reason that it presents a new and surprising combination of unedifying elements.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Believe, Feelings, Elements

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2015). “Religion, a Dialogue, Etc: Top of Schopenhauer”, p.35, 谷月社

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Out of my general world-pattern-trend studies there now comes strong evidence that nothing is going to be quite so surprising and abrupt in the future history of man as the forward evolution in the educational process.

  R. Buckminster Fuller

  Education, Strong, Men

  4 Copy quote

• It is surprising how many great men and women a small house will contain.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, House, Company

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.85, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I want to show the world there is life, surprising, wonderful, and unexpected life, after diagnosis.

  Demi Lovato

  World, Want, Diagnosis

  Demi Lovato's speech at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Annual National Convention, www.c-span.org. September 4, 2014.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is surprising, in the welter of questions that one gets at (AGMs), how few actually relate to the performance of the company, or the decisions taken by the board in particular areas.

  John Harvey-Jones

  Business, Taken, Decision

  7 Copy quote

• Considering the wealth of poetic drama that has come down to us from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, it is surprising that so little of any value has been added since.

  James Fenton

  Drama, Littles, Poetic

  "A licence for drama" by James Fenton, www.theguardian.com. December 6, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I love Broadway. And, I listen to country music, which I think a lot of people find surprising.

  Bryan Clay

  Country, Thinking, People

  4 Copy quote

• It was very hard to make 'Funny Face' in Paris because making movies is difficult and making a movie in a city that was glorious, that was unique and surprising, to get it, to put it on film you have to make choices and reject a lot of things so you're always wondering: "am I doing it right?"

  Stanley Donen

  Unique, Cities, Paris

  "Legendary Musicals Director Stanley Donen On Audrey Hepburn and 'Dancing With The Stars' (Q&A)". Interview with Rebecca Leffler, www.hollywoodreporter.com. June 22, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Look at what has occurred in history. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was not surprising, but it was unexpected. Who predicted the Arab Spring? Nobody expected it, but all the ingredients were there. I think all the ingredients are also there for Quebec to become a country. But when? That's another question.

  Gilles Duceppe

  Country, Wall, Spring

  6 Copy quote

• I think writers like to see how people bring their words to life, and it's always surprising. Always, no matter what, whether it's good or bad, it's always surprising because a whole human being is coming to that piece of writing.

  Lisa Edelstein

  Writing, Thinking, People

  "Lisa Edelstein Talks House". Interview with Brian Gallagher, movieweb.com. May 12, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Tolerance is thin gruel compared to the rapture of absolute truths. It's not surprising that religious people are often better protected by atheists and agnostics than each other.

  Wendy Kaminer

  Religious, Atheist, People

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  61 Copy quote