Top 288 Surprising Quotes

The characters in a novel are made up, figments of the writer’s imagination. I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to anyone, and it’s not surprising to me either, but knowing this, feeling this, definitely made writing my second book harder.

You can learn more about anything, and the truth about almost anything is surprising.

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.

When I wrote ‘Silver Linings,’ I thought I was writing a book about the Philadelphia Eagles and male bonding, but when the book came out, it was surprising to me that the mental health community embraced it.

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.

I guess the most surprising discovery was how long Gandhi remained loyal to the ideal of the British Empire, even in India.

I tend to stay in character between scenes… to be rather serious on set, but here’s why, and I think people will find it surprising. I’m one of the worst ‘corpses’ on a movie set, which means you can’t keep a straight face. You start to get the giggles and you can’t stop.

I like to do things that are surprising and different.

What interests me is the surprising enormous extent to which most people accept the fate that’s been given to them, and find some dignity.

Indian politics has a way of taking a curious turn and surprising the wisest of pundits.

The most surprising thing – and the thing I really didn’t think I would have an opportunity to do when I was younger – was I didn’t realize the kind of roles I would be able to play. I thought it would be, like, two lines here, the joke.

I’m first and foremost a company man, surprising as that is. I love Warner Brothers. That’s where I have a deal. That’s where I’ve been for years. So I don’t really interact too much with other studios and do things with other studios and I don’t necessarily read scripts from other studios.

On ‘EastEnders,’ if someone gets surprising news on the phone, the scene ends with them looking at their handset in amazement. No one in real life does that.

Prayer is such a basic foundation of a Christian’s relationship with God. It’s how we communicate and fellowship with Him. But a surprising number of people, young and old, new and even long-time Christians, say they’re not satisfied with their prayer life.

I played Big Band jazz music. I wasn’t into rock and roll. I was just there because it was a living. I surprised everyone. I’m still surprising people.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it’s our music. It’s the national music of America.

The opportunity to build new and surprising partnerships to help Microsoft succeed in a mobile-first, cloud-first world is truly exciting, and I look forward to leading these efforts.

It’s absolutely surprising to me how well ‘The State’ has held up as far as people liking it and having fond memories of it, considering it’s a sketch show. I think one of the things that helped its mystique is, it never came out on DVD or video or whatever.

I’m pretty good at surprising friends and family with gifts. I tend to go towards the more sentimental side of giving.

You can analyse a joke and say it’s funny because this guy thought this was going to happen, and that happened, and it’s surprising. But not all surprising things are funny.

I can tell you one of the most surprising ingredients I’ve ever found. Perhaps five years ago on a beach I saw this herb that looked exactly like chives. I put it in my mouth and started chewing and, surprise, it tasted exactly like coriander.

I was interested in transcendence from a very early age. I was interested in what was over there, what was behind life. So when I had my first communion I was very disappointed. I had expected something amazing and surprising and spiritual. Instead all I got was a bicycle. That wasn’t what I was after at all.

The people who don’t like it tend to dislike it intensely. That’s unfortunate, but not surprising when one deliberately goes against audience expectations.

One of the surprising things in this world is the respect a worthless man has for himself.

Students come away with a clear message about how admissions works: If you have money, connections or ‘insider’ knowledge, you have a leg up. It’s hardly surprising that many students of modest or lower means decide it’s not even worth playing.

I think ageing is challenging, surprising, fun, and full of friendship, so that is the approach I’ll take, objecting to the stigmatization of ageing in so many modern societies.

Sometimes surprising an actor in a good way like that can actually create a response you’re not expecting.

I’ve run a marathon – I think that’s the most surprising thing about me.

I didn’t know who my daddy was until I was 10 or 12. Surprising as it may seem, he was living right across the street.

At the end of the day, the job is to tell the story that you promised to tell and do it in the most entertaining and perhaps surprising way you can think of.

I have had a struggle with anxiety, always, and as a proud Jew, that’s not a surprising thing.

I’ve experienced all the food and restaurants in New Orleans. I’ve been doing a bit of touristing when I have the day off, just walking in the French Quarter. To me, it’s very, very surprising how people are so friendly. But no, it’s very different from Paris.

Drogba is certainly one of the best strikers in the world and has gone to Galatasaray after his experience in China, with the desire to keep surprising.

It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others.

Anytime a guy gets traded at midseason – a young player – it’s surprising.

One of the most surprising forms of nonverbal communication is the way we automatically adjust the amount of time we spend looking into another’s eyes as a function of our relative social position.

I don’t think most of my hobbies would be surprising to anybody. I obviously like to spend a lot of time with my family. I like to train. I like to lift.

I had never heard much about Nashville before coming out here, and that’s why it’s so surprising, because I’m the biggest enthusiast on the city of Nashville now. I’m looking for a place out here to live.

I grew up watching Sean Young films with my father; we’ve always been huge fans of hers. A surprising fact is that she loves to work on comedies, which was great for me to hear, because then I could ask her a million questions about ‘Fatal Instinct,’ which was a VHS I wore out from the video store.

It may sound surprising when I say, on the basis of my own clinical practice as well as that of my psychological and psychiatric colleagues, that the chief problem of people in the middle decade of the twentieth century is emptiness.

I wanted the role the moment I learned that the naive legal intern Jang Joon-woo is the ultimate villain and the transformative, surprising character in ‘Vincenzo.’

It’s not surprising to see in my own work, looking back, and in the work of some of my peers, an attention to family. It’s nice to write a book that does tend toward significance and meaning, and where else are you sure of finding it?

We loved the original ‘Dynasty’ – the camp and the big, surprising, soapy twists.

I don’t intentionally make my films with the express goal of surprising the viewer.

The experience of the human, male or female, cannot be completely defined by one startling, surprising, or gigantic life experience.

It’s indeed surprising that replacing the elementary particle with a string leads to such a big change in things. I’m tempted to say that it has to do with the fuzziness it introduces.

The abundance of Roman historical mysteries contrasts with the surprising paucity of crime novels set in classical Greece.

I think new plays are vastly more surprising and challenging and inspiring; I hear from audiences all the time that they are delighted when they see plays about the world we live in now, at this moment.

I started out like any other model – I didn’t use my name as leverage. I went out with a portfolio and pounded the pavement and it was surprising how many people wouldn’t see me because I was too short.

I prefer ugly things. I prefer things which are surprising.

From the moment my dad died, from the moment I found out there was the possibility of his dying, there were many surprises – years after, minutes after. The moments I was okay were as surprising as the ones that I wasn’t. Making it through the eulogy without losing it. And then the guilt I felt about it. Surprise!

If the truth be told, we are a society that is dripping in racism. This is not in the least surprising. For the best part of two centuries, we British ruled the waves, controlled two-fifths of the planet, and believed it was our responsibility to bring civilisation to those who allegedly lacked it.