Surprising Quotes - Page 4

• There is something thrilling in the mimesis of life's surprising unfolding.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Mimesis, Unfolding, Thrilling

  "Writing Lessons From the Madly Prolific Joyce Carol Oates". Interview with Alexander Sammon, www.motherjones.com. September 10, 2016.

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• I just like surprising people. I never want to get to a place where people see that I am in a movie and they go see the movie and they expect a certain performance one way or the other. That is just inherently boring to me.

  John C. Reilly

  People, Want, Way

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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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• Abortion is the easy way out. It’s hardly surprising that people should choose the most convenient exit from awkward situations.

  Tony Abbott

  People, Abortion, Awkward

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• The need for civility in society has never been more important. The foundation of kindness and civility begins in our homes. It is not surprising that our public discourse has declined in equal measure with the breakdown of the family. The family is the foundation for love and for maintaining spirituality. The family promotes an atmosphere where religious observance can flourish. There is indeed beauty all around when there's love at home.

  Quentin L. Cook

  Religious, Kindness, Home

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• It was surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment.

  Stephen Crane

  Gone, Golden, Midst

  Stephen Crane (2004). “The Red Badge of Courage”, p.41, Prestwick House Inc

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• Coming [to Paris] has been a wonderful experience, surprising in many respects, one of them being to find how much of an American I am.

  Augustus Saint-Gaudens

  Paris, Wonderful, Has Beens

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• There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca.

  Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

  Years, Mecca, Prophet

  "A Man to Match His Mountains: Badshah Khan, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam". Book by Eknath Easwaran, 1984.

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• Anyone who ever wondered how much they could love a child who did not spring from their own loins, know this: it is the same. The feeling of love is so profound, it's incredible and surprising.

  Nia Vardalos

  Children, Spring, Love Is

  FaceBook post by Nia Vardalos from Feb 14, 2013

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• Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws, moreover the former is never made a condition for the knowledge they teach, but there are always scrupulously careful to take into consideration the possibility that by reason both the agnostic and atheist may attain truth in their own way. Such tolerance may be surprising to religious believers in the West, but it is an integral part of Vedantic belief.

  Romain Rolland

  Running, Religious, Atheist

  "Life of Ramakrishna". Book by Romain Rolland, 1928.

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• As with many other things, there is a surprising amount of prejudice against quality control, but the proof of the pudding is still in the eating.

  Kaoru Ishikawa

  Quality, Prejudice, Pudding

  Kaoru Ishikawa (1990). “Introduction to Quality Control”, Productivity Press

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• I'm sorry that it was all so successful. I honestly didn't mean it to happen like that. It's hardly surprising that people grew to hate me.

  Phil Collins

  Sorry, Hate, Mean

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• Political consultants are pugilists, masters in the dark art of negativity. Which is why it's surprising to hear Democrats such as Steve McMahon and Republicans like Rich Galen urging their presidential candidates to be more, well, positive.

  Ron Fournier

  Art, Dark, Presidential

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• I kind of put myself out there as is. I'm a quiet person. I don't know if that's surprising. I'm a Pilates junkie.

  Zach Galifianakis

  Pilates, Quiet Person, Kind

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• Poetry operates by raising our curiosity, engaging the mind by degrees to take an interest in the event, keeping that event suspended, and surprising at last with an unexpected catastrophe.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Poetry, Curiosity, Mind

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1842). “The Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.142

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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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• Art must take reality by surprise.

  Francoise Sagan

  Art, Reality, Surprise

  1958 Writers at Work.

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• Most of the time I've worked in labs if I didn't encounter something in a week entirely unexpected and surprising I'd consider it a lost week. Lots of that is due to mistakes and stupidity, but it could open a new line of inquiry. Something really good turns up once in a hundred times, but it makes the whole day worthwhile.

  Lewis Thomas

  Mistake, Stupidity, Encounters

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• For me, it's the unexpected and surprising combinations of produce that are the most exciting and lure me into the kitchen for a little bit of experimenting. Apples and sweet potatoes together? Who knew? Carrots with grapes? Okay. I may not be Julia Child, but I can do pretty well with a simple recipe and a lot of enthusiasm.

  Marlo Thomas

  Sweet, Children, Simple

  "Seasonal Ingredients: 12 Fresh and Healthy Recipes for Fall" by Marlo Thomas, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 5, 2013.

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• It's kind of surprising that you could just open up a site and let people work.

  Jimmy Wales

  People, Kind, Site

  “Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You” by By Peter Meters, mobile.nytimes.com. September 20, 2001.

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• I have an all-Japanese design team, and none of them speak English. So it's often funny and surprising how my ideas end up lost in translation.

  Pharrell Williams

  Team, Speak English, Ideas

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• To find gratitude and generosity when you could reasonably find hurt and resentment will surprise you. It will be so surprising because you will see so much of the opposite: people who have much more than others yet who react with anger when one advantage is lost or with resentment when an added gift is denied.

  Henry B. Eyring

  Gratitude, Hurt, Opposites

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• He moved like a dancer, which is not surprising; a horse is a beautiful animal, but it is perhaps most remarkable because it moves as if it always hears music.

  Mark Helprin

  Beautiful, Horse, Truth

  Mark Helprin (1983). “Winter's Tale”, p.18, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I had always been impressed by the fact that there are surprisingly many individuals who never use their minds if they can avoid it, and yet are not stupid, and an equal number who obviously do use their minds but in an amazingly stupid way.

  Carl Jung

  Stupid, Numbers, Mind

  "The Collected Works of C. G. Jung: Miscellaneous writings".

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