Quotes about surprise
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“So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then President Clinton lied about a relationship, and everyone was surprised! A little naïve, I feel!”

Eddie Izzard (1962) British stand-up comedian, actor and writer

Feeling

“Unfinished Poem
I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Love

“It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.”

Chinua Achebe book Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart

Despair

“Life was mostly made up of things you couldn’t control, full of surprises, and they weren’t always good. Life wasn’t what you made it. You were what life made you.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: Sweethearts

Life

“My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It s the letter I use to spell yuzz a ma tuzz. You ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond Z and start poking around”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

“In the end, it wasn't death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Virgin Suicides

Source: The Virgin Suicides

Life, Death

“Adrian rolled his eyes. "I'm kind of surprised to findlecturing about underage girls.”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

Girl

“Nick shook his head and found to his surprise that he did have tears left after all. He wasn't surprised by a talking cat. The world was crumbling around him and anything could happen.”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

Source: Abhorsen

World, Cats, Tear

“And those who saw, it did surprise,
Such drops could fall from human eyes.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

“I hoped Lissa remained the only one with a surprise sibling.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Hope, Siblings

“Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

“Doesn't surprise me," Nana snorted. "I wouldn't put anything past your late husband."
"He's not dead, Nana."
Nana sighed. "Hope springs eternal.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Lucky One

Source: The Lucky One

Hope, Spring, Past, Dead

“If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer. "If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 102.

Suffering

“I don't know what he means by that, but I nod and smile at him. You'd be surprised at how far that response can get you in a conversation where you are completely confused.”

Jodi Picoult book House Rules

Source: House Rules

Smile

“I learned you pay for your happiness. That's why I don't expect to be happy all the time. I'd rather be surprised by one moment every so often to remind me that joy is possible, even if I have to pay for it later.”

Esmeralda Santiago (1948) Puerto Rican writer and actor

Source: Conquistadora

Happiness, Learning, Time, Joy

“I always lacked common sense when taken by surprise.”

Anne Brontë book Agnes Grey

Variant: No, thank you, I don't mind the rain,' I said. I always lacked common sense when taken by surprise.
Source: Agnes Grey

Sense

“It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now! Was it worth what I paid?”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

One (1988)

Life, Personality

“Just because you’re grown up and then some doesn’t mean settling into the doldrums of predictability. Surprise people. Surprise yourself. (281)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

People

“I moved to leave, and Dylan actually grabbed me by my shoulders. I was so surprised that I forgot to karate-chop his elbows and break his arms.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

“At this point, a spaceship could land on Main Street and Elvis could saunter out singing "Love Me Tender," and I wouldn't be surprised”

Michele Bardsley (1970) American writer

Source: Come Hell or High Water

Love, Singing

“It is so often surprising, who rescues you at your lowest moments.”

Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Color Master: Stories

“You get used to people being a certain way; you depend on it. And when they surprise you, for better or worse, it can shake you to your core.”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Saint Anything

People, Way, Dependency

“Let God have you, and let God love you - and don’t be surprised if your heart begins to hear music you’ve never heard and your feet learn to dance as never before.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Love, God, Music, Learning

“When the poet Paul Valery once asked Albert Einstein if he kept a notebook to record his ideas, Einstein looked at him with mild but genuine surprise. "Oh, that's not necessary," he replied. "It's so seldom I have one.”

Bill Bryson book A Short History of Nearly Everything

Source: A Short History of Nearly Everything

Idea

“The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.”

Guy Gavriel Kay book Under Heaven

Source: Under Heaven

World

“Adrian ordered a martini, earning disapproving looks from his father and me.
'It's barely noon,' said Nathan.
'I know,' said Adrian. 'I'm surprised I held out that long too.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

“Stories are as unique as the people who tell them, and the best stories are those in which the ending is a surprise.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Choice

Travis Parker, Proloque, p. 1
Source: 2000s, The Choice (2007)

People

“I love arguing with you, Claire. You always surprise me. And occasionally, you even make sense.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ghost Town

Love, Sense

“This is love, I think. A place where people who have been alone may lock together like hawks and spin in the air, dizzy with surprise at the connection. A place you go willingly, and with wonder”

Jodi Picoult book Keeping Faith

Source: Keeping Faith

Love, People, Thinking

“You trust me?" Eric sounded surprised.
"Yes."
"That's… crazy, Sookie.”

Charlaine Harris book Living Dead in Dallas

Source: Living Dead in Dallas

“Sara: "You are so brave," I tell her, and then I smile. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."
To my surprise, Kate shakes her head hard. Her voice is a feather, a thread. "No Mommy," she says. "You'd be sick.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Smile

“Neither the mouse nor the boy was the least bit surprised that each could understand the other. Two creatures who shared a love for motorcycles naturally spoke the same language.”

Beverly Cleary book The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Source: The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Love, Boy, Understanding, Nature

“I said I liked being half-educated; you were so much more surprised at everything when you were ignorant.”

Gerald Durrell book My Family and Other Animals

Source: My Family and Other Animals (1956)

Education

“Reality had no gears, and you never knew what surprises would come spinning out of its chaos.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Variant: ... that was what kept the world interesting... reality had no gears, and you never knew what surprises would come spinning out of its chaos.
Source: Goliath

Reality

“You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.”

Daniel Kahneman book Thinking, Fast and Slow

Source: Thinking, Fast and Slow

People, Behavior, Learning

“I blend in the backgroud. when I arive for lunch my friends are surprised i'm not already there.”

Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer

Source: Finally

“All the times I have suddenly realized that my parents are dead, even now, it still surprises me, to exist in the world while that which made me has ceased to exist.”

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

Source: The History of Love

World, Parent, Time, Dead

“From a distance, it makes perfect sense that the people and the things you think will save you are the very ones that have the power to disappoint you most bitterly, but up close it can hit you as a bewildering surprise.”

Tom Perrotta (1961) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: Joe College

People, Disappointment, Thinking, Sense

“I am Abhorsen…"
He looked at the baby again and added, almost with a note of surprise, "Father of Sabriel”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

p. 14.
Source: "I am a necromancer, but not of the common sort, while others of the art raise the dead, I lay them to rest - or try too - and those that will not rest I bind, for I am Abhorsen..."
He turned to the baby again and added, almost with a note of surprise, "Father of Sabriel."

Baby

“He possessed the logic of all good intentions and a knowledge of all the tricks of his trade, and yet he never succeeded at anything, because he believed too much in the impossible. Surprising? Why so? He was forever in the act of conceiving it!”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

Knowledge

“Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.”

Julian Barnes book Flaubert's Parrot

Source: Flaubert's Parrot

Life, People, Books

“There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved.”

Charles Morgan (1894–1958) British writer

Love

“You know what it was like? It was like thinking I was heading to a surprise party and instead it was a surprise pap smear.”

Jen Lancaster (1967) American writer

Source: Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie Is Not the Answer

Thinking

“Major Major had lied, and it was good. He was not really surprised that it was good, for he had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch-22

People, Lie, Success

“She turns to us, acts surprised to see us, then does the bit with the back of the hand to the forehead. "You're lost!" "You're angry!" "You're in the wrong school!" "You're in the wrong country!" "You're on the wrong planet!”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

School, Country

“What happens in the past, is in the past. But don't be surprised if it comes back and haunts you.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

Past

“There was nothing, nothing to depend on. And why was I surprised?”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Dependency

“My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant. The highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge, but Sympathy with Intelligence. I do not know that this higher knowledge amounts to anything more definite than a novel and grand surprise on a sudden revelation of the insufficiency of all that we called Knowledge before — a discovery that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Walking (June 1862)
Source: Civil Disobedience and Other Essays

Dreams, Intelligence, Knowledge

“Open yourself to an encounter with heaven, be as a little child. Release your desire to the winds of the universe. Trust your angels to catch your wish and bring it to you in a delightfully surprising way.”

Doreen Virtue (1958) American writer

Angels, Way, Universe

“One of the greatest discoveries a person makes, one of their great surprises, is to find they can do what they were afraid they couldn't do.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

Personality

“Is Tyson okay?' I asked.
The question seemed to take my dad by surprise. 'He's fine. Doing much better than I expected. Though 'peanut butter' is a strange battle cry.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Question, Cry

“I see you brought along your violent little girlfriend. What a nice surprise!" - Saint Dane (The Reality Bug)”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Reality

“People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.”

James Baldwin book No Name in the Street

No Name in the Street (1972)

People, Water

“I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Life, Happiness, Suffering, Future

“It was surprising that you could spend hours in the middle of the night pretending things were okay, and know in thirty seconds of daylight that simply wasn't so”

Gillian Flynn book Dark Places

Source: Dark Places

Night

“You suck, surprising no one!!!! If bad was a boot, you'd fit it!!!! You're a stupid poo-poo head! I had sexual relations with your mother! Your mother was not that good in bed! You, sir, are a wretched soul! I am rubber, you are glue!”

Bryan Lee O'Malley (1979) Artist

Source: Scott Pilgrim, Volume 2: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Stupidity, Soul

“The depth of the feeling continued to surprise and threaten me, but each time it hit again and I bore it… I would discover that it hadn't washed me away.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Feeling, Time

“One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.”

A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author

“But you'll be killed!"
"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."
Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Kiss

“Well, hello there, Mother,” Sebastian said in a voice like silk. “Surprised to see me?”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

“he came to think, It surprised him that strangers didn't stop each other on the street to say”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Thinking

“It gets harder all the time, Bev Shaw once said. Harder, yet easier. One gets used to things getting harder; one ceases to be surprised that what used to be hard as hard can be grows harder yet.”

J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace

Time

“Leo's biggest surprise: One look from Jason, and all three of them knew the game plan. When had that happened, that they could read each other so well?”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Game, Reading

“If you give people tools, and they use their natural abilities and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

People, Way, Nature

“It's surprising how often history is decided by something as trival as bad shellfish.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Battle for Skandia

History

“The demon bared its greenish fangs. "This is my true form. An ugly surprise for you, I suppose."
"I daresay it's an improvement," said Will. "You weren't much to look at before, and at least the horns are dramatic.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“Dimitri was on a first name basis with one of the most badass guardians around. Of course, Dimitri was pretty badass himself, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

“Never take your eyes off your opponent. And never think you don’t have to work for a victory. Even now, you could surprise me. (Takeshi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

Thinking, Victory

“Surprising yourself is a big thing for me—to go somewhere that I don’t even know I’m going.”

Lily Tuck (1938) American writer

“[A] pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.”

Rex Stout book Fer-de-Lance

Source: Fer-de-Lance

“I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 99, p. 336
Context: I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality.

“We wouldn't be alive without love we wouldn't have survived without running maybe we shouldn't be surprised that getting better at one could make you better at the other.”

Christopher McDougall (1962) American journalist and writer

Source: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Love

“Seeing him again after so long awakened something inside me. I was surprised to find myself feeling sad rather than joyful, as I would have imagined.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

Sadness, Feeling, Imagination

“Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi

“He wasn't surprised. He was used to this anticlimactic feeling, where by the time you've done all the work to get something you don't even want it anymore.”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Feeling, Time

“The psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer has a simple heuristic. Never ask the doctor what you should do. Ask him what he would do if he were in your place. You would be surprised at the difference”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

“Yes, well, life is a folly. If you live long enough, nothing is surprising.”

Tracy Chevalier book Girl with a Pearl Earring

Source: Girl with a Pearl Earring

Life

“Surprise me, Atlantean. Attack. This isn’t a dance party. (Takeshi)
You know, this isn’t building my confidence. In fact, I think I’m just going to lie here for a bit and take in some sun. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

Lie, Confidence, Thinking, Sun

“Surprising what you can dig out of books if you read long enough, isn't it?”

Robert Jordan (1948–2007) American writer

Rand al'Thor
(15 September 1992)

Books, Reading

“Creativity is a continual surprise.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

“To her-
Hand in hand we come
Christopher Robin and I
To lay this book in your lap.
Say you're surprised?
Say you like it?
Say it's just what you wanted?
Because it's yours-
because we love you.”

A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh

Source: Winnie-the-Pooh

Love, Books

“If you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropiate port you find yourself docked.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume (1984)

“When you've come face-to-face with the dark side of the school yard, life doesn't hold many surprises.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: Half-Moon Investigations

Life, School

“That of all people, it should be him; that took her aback. That the heart should settle on somebody like him; that surprised her. But she was so certain about it, so certain.”

Alexander McCall Smith (1948) British writer

Source: Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams

People, Heart

“I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Source: Frankenstein

Happiness, Pleasure, Solitude, Appearance

“You would be surprised at the lengths you will go to believe the best about someone if you truly love him”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

Love

“You’d be surprised what a person can live with,” Dan said.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Source: Doctor Sleep

Personality

“For, through the twilight sounds of crickets and sighing trees, a faint, surprising wisp of music came floating to them and all three turned toward it, toward the wood.”

Natalie Babbitt book Tuck Everlasting

Source: Tuck Everlasting

Music, Tree

“Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodgeball ignited a huge WHOOOOOOOM!”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

Boy

“If all the girls attending [the Yale prom] were laid end to end, I wouldn't be at all surprised.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Our Mrs Parker (1934)
Source: While Rome Burns
Context: And there was that wholesale libel on a Yale prom. If all the girls attending it were laid end to end, Mrs Parker said, she wouldn't be at all surprised.

Girl

“Love is the one surprise.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Love

“What kills a relationship between two people is precisely the lack of challenge, the feeling that nothing is new anymore. We need to continue to be a surprise for each other.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

People, Feeling