“History is merely a list of surprises. … It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again. Please write that down.”

Source: Slapstick (1976), Ch. 48

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Do you have more details about the quote "History is merely a list of surprises. … It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again. Please write that down." by Kurt Vonnegut?

Kurt Vonnegut318

American writer 1922–2007

James P. Carse American academic

Source: Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility

“[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation.”

Orhan Pamuk book The Black Book

Source: The Black Book

“My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level.”

Michael H. Hart (1932) American astronomer

Muhammad
Source: About Muhammad, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, p.3

“There are no surprising facts, only models that are surprised by facts”

Eliezer Yudkowsky (1979) American blogger, writer, and artificial intelligence researcher

Quantum explanations http://lesswrong.com/lw/pc/quantum_explanations/ (April 2008), part of his Quantum Physics Sequence http://lesswrong.com/lw/r5/the_quantum_physics_sequence/. <br class="br">Context: There are no surprising facts, only models that are surprised by facts; and if a model is surprised by the facts, it is no credit to that model.

“Say what you will, but you’re never prepared for the surprise attack.”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

“Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

Journal entry (4 March 1906); as published in Souvenirs and Prophecies: the Young Wallace Stevens (1977) edited by Holly Stevens, Ch. 8

“History is never surprising—after it happens.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Logic of Empire

Logic of Empire (p. 333)
Short fiction, The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)

“But chance runs like a river through all our lives, and being prepared for surprise is the best we can do.”

Kenneth Oppel Skybreaker

Source: Skybreaker

“In the midst of the disguises and artifices that reign among men, it is only attention and vigilance that can save us from surprises.”

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704) French bishop and theologian

Politics Drawn from the very words of Holy Scripture edited by Patrick Riley (1990) http://books.google.com/books?id=3jiGsoP_ExgC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=%22In+the+midst+of+the+disguises+and+artifices+that+reign+among+men,+it+is+only+attention+and+vigilance+that+can+save+us+from+surprises.%22&source=bl&ots=4D_c7UqG_l&sig=22Djfz_VN-rbiENWgWqpn4s93KI&hl=en&ei=mDZ7S-vRHqX20wSg8t2pCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22In%20the%20midst%20of%20the%20disguises%20and%20artifices%20that%20reign%20among%20men%2C%20it%20is%20only%20attention%20and%20vigilance%20that%20can%20save%20us%20from%20surprises.%22&f=false <br class="br">Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture (1709)

“Nothing is more surprising than the surprises of history, and nothing more untrustworthy than the uncritical extrapolation of the tendencies of the recent past.”

Lancelot Law Whyte (1896–1972) Scottish industrial engineer

Essay on Atomism: From Democritus to 1960 (1961), p.8

“History is merely a list of surprises. … It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again. Please write that down.”

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Kurt Vonnegut318

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