In this post, you will find great Surprise Quotes from famous people, such as Tyler Herro, Jordi Alba, Jim Nantz, Lusia Strus, Clint Hill. You can learn and implement many lessons from these quotes.
I personally take cues directly from the script, then I like to surprise the other actors. But you must maintain control on a level and see how far you can go up, down or out emotionally. You have to balance the craft with spontaneity.
President Lyndon Johnson was very, very unpredictable. We never knew for sure what he is going to do next, and he preferred to have it that way; if he could do something as a complete surprise, that was his preference.
Instead of fearing the unknown – all the bad that can happen – realize that good things can surprise you as well.
‘A Court of Thorns and Roses,’ big surprise, was inspired by music. By actually listening to the ‘Princess Mononoke’ soundtrack.
I love doing characters that surprise people and showing what I am, which is an actor, first and foremost.
There’s definitely a list of things I’d like to do. But there’s been a lot of things I hadn’t even thought would have been possible to do that I’d been able to do, so I think I’ll surprise myself and keep breaking that glass ceiling to see what’s next. Hopefully people get surprised – that’s my main goal.
Washington was taken by surprise by the Egyptian revolution because policy experts focused too much on Mubarak and his government, and too little on the ‘voice of the people.’
I miss the generation of actors such as John Mills, where it doesn’t surprise you at all when he crops up in a film tap-dancing.
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
I had a pregnancy that wasn’t private… A lot of people had their opinions about it. They were surprised that I came up pregnant, which was a surprise to me, because I’m a woman, and women get pregnant, and Lauren comes first before the actress, so having my son was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Theater school is essentially like training. It’s boot camp. It’s like an academy to put you through all these different situations that sometimes are more extreme than what you’ll come across in the field. But now you’re emotionally prepared for it so that when it does happen, it’s not a big surprise.
I always think back to that first night in Brooklyn, where I debuted, and it was this total surprise. I just remember thinking, ‘I hope they care. I hope they remember me.’ The way they embraced me that night, I knew it was the start of something special.
‘Shadow and Bone’ was the first. Siege and Storm’ was challenge and surprise. Ruin and Rising’ was the opportunity to see a story through to its end.
I think it’s important for artists to work together. It’s great for fans to see, like, Ludacris came out to our show in Atlanta and kinda made a surprise appearance there, it shows a mutual respect for what each other does.
I remember when I was a kid, whenever you’d see cartoons cross over with each other, it always ranged from a delightful, magical surprise to a cynical, annoying cash grab.
I had soaked up all of these ideas about what it meant to be a creative person from media and culture. And I had this idea in my head that if this was your calling it was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to feel good to wrestle with a blank page. And imagine my surprise when it wasn’t fun at all.
That’s life in the league for you, though. I mean – that’s life for you, period. Things don’t always happen in a straight line. There’s usually going to be a zig here, a zag there, that catches you by surprise. And then it’s on you to adapt.
I think I surprise some people because a lot of the time, I roll out of bed and go to school, and it’s like I don’t wear anything that interesting sometimes.
I find mirrors detestable; I dislike seeing myself. Of course, there’s a mirror in the bathroom, but it’s a magnifying one for shaving. Photographs are fine, but I don’t like mirrors because they take you by surprise.
I have heard that the Saudi Arabians are paying Greenpeace to campaign against Nuclear Power. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.
I am more of a surprise kind of guy. I love to find out as I go.
Amitabh doesn’t surprise me because he has been there, done that.
For me, the biggest surprise? I had no idea how worldwide the fandom for ‘The Witcher’ was.
You never want your second act or the whole movie to just be this relentless march towards its goal. You want things to take the audience by surprise.
I do reread, kind of obsessively, partly for the surprise of how the same book reads at a different point in life, and partly to have the sense of returning to an old friend.
When I started running for Congress, it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress.

People constantly express surprise that Americans are so hot for Shakespeare. But Britain‘s culture is American culture, too.
I do not personally agree with some of the positions that Mr. Gonzales has advocated, but that should come as no surprise, because I do not agree with many of the proposals made by the man who nominated him, President Bush.
I never rehearse scenes with the whole ensemble, because I need to preserve some surprise. Instead, I work with the cast individually on their characters.
It is always better to wait for a good surprise instead of thinking about it.
I’ve always had volume on my side: the big-voice-in-a-small-package thing. I surprise people.
That’s always the biggest surprise when people meet me: how buoyant I am and how fun and light I am.
My mum is incredibly leftwing, and my dad was quite rightwing – no surprise they didn’t stay together – and so I had two very conflicting political opinions as a child, neither of which I was interested in taking any notice of, being a sort of little reprobate.
Every time I write something, I think, this is the most offensive thing I will ever write. But no. I always surprise myself.
I’m one of five; I have three sisters, so I’ve always had three best girlfriends. Actually, I’m the middle child, so it’s no surprise I went into acting! There’s a need to be seen.
For me, the short story is the depth of a novel, the breadth of a poem, and, as you come to the last few paragraphs, the experience of surprise.
Terror works by surprise.
If you don’t take an opponent serious, they surprise you.
Do not know yourself. I want to continue to surprise me.
We like to keep things as a surprise. It’s always better like that.

My parents themselves both went to university, and they very much expected me to be an intellectual and go through further education, and it’s to kind of their surprise that I became an athlete.
If it comes as a constant surprise each and every time something unexpected occurs, you’re not only going to be miserable whenever you attempt something big, you’re going to have a much harder time accepting it and moving on to attempts two, three, and four.
Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy‘s place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
With ‘Imposters,’ I finally felt I had gotten something I could sink my teeth into. It’s a dream come true, and I couldn’t ask for a more fulfilling and challenging experience. It was something I didn’t expect. A real surprise.
This may come as a surprise, given the nature of my job, but I am very guarded and contemplative. I’m not a naturally boisterous person.
It’s no surprise that whether by blocking visas or building walls, there are parts of the country desperate to hang on to a vision of the United States that is rapidly disappearing from their TV screens as well as their neighborhoods.
I think it’s part of the responsibility of an artist to shock, to upset, to make people think differently, and to surprise people. And that’s where the good humor is, if there’s a surprise and there’s something unexpected. Something that’s not normal, not in the realm of general living expectations.
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.
I think I surprise myself.
I miss the classroom and the bit I miss the most is the one-on-one personal interactions with the students, those moments when they surprise you with their insightfulness, or their cheekiness.
For me, what is most important is the element of surprise. If I can surprise you with every film of mine, that is exactly what I am trying to do.
I think all human beings can surprise themselves when they are in situations where they are tested. That’s when you see your true character coming out, and I was definitely tested.
Television is fantastic because you get to follow a group of characters over time, and their stories can enrich and surprise you. And you get to work with a group of people over time as well, which can be very satisfying with the right group.
I think one of the things that was a huge surprise to everyone with ‘Silence of the Lambs’ was that that was an Oscar-winning horror movie. It struck such a nerve with audiences that it was a very particular, special experience.
I don’t get surprised very often to be honest. I’m the kind of person who you couldn’t throw a surprise party for because I’d figure it out.
The invention of the micro-loan was a big surprise to me. Who would have guessed loans of less than $20 made to poor people in undeveloped countries could create thriving local economies? And, even more surprisingly, that they more reliably pay off their debts than the wealthy of the world.
In life, all things have come to me as a surprise and I didn’t have any plans to do films. So let’s see how it goes.

Paulinho will surprise many people. If he does not fit at Barca, he would at Atletico.
Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy‘s place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
As West Indians we have always been disrespected. As soon as we fight back they make it look like we are the bad one in the media. We’ve experienced these things over the years. So it’s no surprise.
Perhaps it is no surprise I became an entertainer because many of my relatives were natural performers. Dad, who had a fine pair of lungs, was master of ceremonies at East Ham working men’s club in east London. I felt so proud when I saw him in his white gloves calling out the names of the dances.
People show surprise that I have interests outside my political career. There is subtle surprise, for example, that I would be interested in a recipe.
Art must take reality by surprise.
I do all that I can to surprise people and make things unpredictable because that is what makes wrestling fun.
I don’t feel the need to be the hot chick every second of the day. I like to be able to surprise people when I turn it on. I want it to be like the movie ‘She’s All That’ when they unveil her.
Americans rightly asked, if this is the way our government responds to a natural disaster it knew about days in advance, how would it respond to a surprise terrorist attack? How would it respond to an earthquake?
I constantly want to do something new and surprise the audience.
Life will be interesting only when there is an element of surprise in it.
I’ve been acting for 27 years, and anonymity has always been a part of what I do. Of course you get recognised every now and again, but ‘Homeland‘ pushed me into a completely different strata, and that took me by surprise.
The fact ‘Twin Peaks‘ had a life at all took most of us in the cast by surprise. We thought it would be too unusual for network television. The original intention was that it would be a two-hour movie. If the network didn’t want to pick it up as a series, it could just show that. But ABC took a chance.
I think the movie business is in trouble. It’s all movies that you’ve seen before. Everything’s a remake; they want things that are familiar rather than things that surprise you.

At 99 and after a long stay in a nursing home, the death of legendary photographer Eve Arnold was hardly a surprise – though she may have been just a little annoyed to quit a few months short of 100.
It does surprise me that intelligent people in the 21st century could claim that if you respond to the terrorists with force, you spawn terrorism, but if you appease them, you somehow tame them. This argument, as I said, is very interesting, and very surprising.
One of the more difficult tasks for me as president was to decide on the issue of confirming capital punishment awarded by courts… to my surprise… almost all cases which were pending had a social and economic bias.
When, in 2015, Greece decided by referendum to reject Brussels‘ austerity plans, the European Union‘s antidemocratic response took no one by surprise: To deny the people’s will had become a habit.
I think when you don’t know where you stand with someone, they can surprise you in their goodness and their badness, and that makes them human.
It’s no surprise that White people say things when they are together about Black people.
Jazz and poetry both involve a structure that may be familiar and to some extent predictable. And then, you try to create as much surprise and spontaneity and feeling and variation while respecting that structure.
I’m not sure that it’s possible to write a novel about people who don’t transgress or stumble, people who don’t surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it’s not possible for me to write that sort of novel.
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!
With ‘Outlander,’ definitely the book fans were at the door, ready to go, as soon as we started. But it felt like it kind of crossed over into more of a general audience rapidly. That did surprise me – I thought it would take longer for general audiences to come around.
Hopefully, the people that would look at a Good Charlotte record and dismiss it for maybe what they think is a certain kind of content, if they do discover something meaningful, then it’s a nice surprise. I like those kinds of contradictions.
I show the people I love that I love them by gathering them in my kitchen and feeding them, so no surprise that most of my characters do the same thing.
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
Harry Kane, for example, is a really physical striker but also really skilful. He surprises lot of defenders, but he won’t surprise me.
It’s amazing how, in New York, there is almost a feeling of entitlement by the public – this very palpable lack of surprise at being stopped in the street and being asked to be the subject of a 12-foot monumental painting.
The biggest surprise has been making the adjustment after losing a game. In the NBA you could lose tonight and you have to put that game behind you because you have another game the next night.

I look in the mirror expecting to be 34 and see someone who is 58. What’s that all about? I haven‘t even thought about turning 60 yet, but so many of my friends have celebrated it by now that it’s lost its terror. And I don’t mind being 58; it’s just such a surprise when one doesn’t feel it at all.
I guess that’s just the life of an inventor: what people do with your ideas takes you totally by surprise.
I don’t think of it as a competition – which might surprise you, given the way movies are reported constantly.
The abolition of the presidential term limit and President Xi Jinping’s concentration of power have come as an unwelcome surprise to many.
This is probably going to surprise people, but if you were to do a scan around the globe on public policy concerning our industry, you would probably have to conclude that the United States has the policy that has been, I believe, the most pro competition.
Brad was a huge surprise to me. I think we were both the last two people who were looking for a relationship. I certainly wasn’t. I was quite content to be a single mom with Mad.
My imagination is rather limited, so it would be challenging to get roles that surprise me.
It may surprise people to know that I advocate the reform of the United Nations, not its abolishment.
I assumed that ‘Gone Girl’ would do incrementally better than ‘Dark Places,’ and that would be great. So the fact that it did more than that was kind of an incredibly pleasant surprise.
What was so lovely about ‘O.J.’ and ‘This Is Us’ to a certain extent is that I got a chance to surprise people.
As much as you try to organize your life, life will surprise you.
One of the tricky things about running a TV show is that you just never know how good the guest stars you cast on a weekly basis, how good they’re going to be in the episode. Sometimes they surprise you in good ways and sometimes they surprise you in disappointing ways.
As President Obama is inaugurated for a second time, the biggest political surprise is that gun control is now key to his political legacy.
Nighttime frequently increases alertness, and each mission should consider the ramifications of a night assault. Several of the most successful special operations were conducted in daytime and achieved a high degree of surprise.
I’ve made movies that we’re very successful that we’re a complete surprise, and I’ve made movies that I thought we’re going to be very successful that, you know.
I’ve known Bezos for decades, since the very early days of Amazon, so it’s no surprise to me that he’s smart or willing to make big bets.
It’s much easier for me to do an impression of someone real, because you and the audience begin with a baseline understanding of this person’s life. And then if you subvert that in any way, it’s a little comedy surprise.
I want to surprise people with my work every time.

The hand issue I had throughout the India tour, and which eventually led to surgery, no doubt took people by surprise.
I guess I didn’t have a lot of friends, so that’s what made videogames so important. They played back. I could do them myself. Solitaire can’t surprise you; there’s no AI. But videogames play back with you.
I quite like the element of surprise, and as much as I have my ideas, I always appreciate ideas that come from other people as well, and I love the mystery of not knowing.
Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.
Interventions are really emotionally exhausting and I would never ever want to have one. In the same way, I would never want to have a surprise birthday party. That would be horrible.
After I found that I had become an actor, slightly to my surprise, I did have some insecurity, and I did take some rather strange acting classes at a place called The Actor’s Studio in London. I don’t think they did me any good at all.
Surprise is not humor. I think that there can be a fine line there.
It may be no surprise that Pittsburgh has direct flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt, but consider this: many of the tourists here have come from Europe to the capital of culture in the Alleghenies.
Imagine my surprise when, after a lifetime of teaching me to keep personal things to myself, Mom insisted my drawings were the start of a comic strip for millions of people to enjoy.
The biggest lesson that I’ve learned is that fashion is this tightrope where you have to be consistent but inconsistent. You need the connective thread but at the same time you need a sense of surprise.
Silence, this will surprise you not, isn’t really a Jewish concept.
We want to satisfy our fans, but we want to surprise them, too. That’s our challenge.
Surprise! Surprise! An Academy Award nomination and suddenly you’re outed? Did I mind? Oh, very, very much.
One of the difficult things of making a horror sequel in general is because the horror genre is so founded on surprise.
That’s the thing about ‘Sex Education,’ the shooting situations are so bizarre that nothing is a surprise any more. It’s just another day at the office.
I think, in Japan, animation isn’t relegated to being a genre unto itself. It’s just a medium by which you can tell any number of stories, be it horror or action or adventure or drama or whatever, and we’re trying to do that as well. Every film that you go see from Pixar, we’re hoping is a little bit of a surprise.
Unless I’m a little bit scared about something, I’m genuinely not actually entirely happy. I feel I need to be just that little bit outside my comfort zone, and then I can really surprise myself and stretch myself, and I think that’s a really good thing for any actor.
Even now, we’re surprised by the reach of my mum, so you can imagine our surprise at the interest in my daughter. We got calls from Hollywood companies wanting to do a reality show with her and we thought, ‘About what? We’re not a Hollywood family.’
I’ll tell you what I love about directing: the surprise. You never know what’s going to happen with your piece until an audience weighs in.

I’m not a big planner. Things always sort of surprise me.
My childhood gave me resilience – and there’s little that can surprise me in life.
Life’s supposed to be an adventure, a surprise!
The bewildering success of my books continues to surprise me.
Surprise is key in all art.
I surprise myself by the things I get excited by.
Luckily, with ‘The Collector‘ the first time around, it really took off in the DVD world and foreign, so it was just a pleasant surprise that a couple of years later there we were, doing it again.
It would probably surprise people to know that I’m interested in wildlife. I read a lot of poetry, too.
Is it a surprise that into the vessel, in which the mercury has no inclination and no repugnance, not even the slightest, to being there, it should enter and should rise in a column high enough to make equilibrium with the weight of the external air which forces it up?
The Gospel of Judas really has been a surprise in many ways. For one thing, there’s no other text that suggests that Judas Iscariot was an intimate, trusted disciple, one to whom Jesus revealed the secrets of the kingdom, and that conversely, the other disciples were misunderstanding what he meant by the gospel.
Why, for example, do the great writers use anticipation instead of surprise? Because surprise is merely an instrument of the unusual, whereas anticipation of a consequence enlarges our understanding of what is happening.
It should be no surprise that religion in the non-western world has failed to disappear under the juggernaut of industrial capitalism, or that liberal democracy finds its most dedicated saboteurs among the new middle classes.
Be Prepared… the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.
I’d do almost anything for love, within safe boundaries. I’ve flown to places to surprise people, even if it was just for a day. I think it’s so important to keep the romance alive and make sure the fun and spontaneity are there.
I don’t think it should be a surprise when we’re talking about energy and trying to have more home-grown energy, be less reliant on foreign oil when you look at our health care that we’re trying to get more affordable health care, that these are going to create major debates in this country and be somewhat polarizing.
It’s to surprise people about something that is extremely well known. I mean human reproduction, the human body, nature and so on. To surprise them with a new technique.
The feeling of insecurity is inimical to our sense of wellbeing, as it causes anxiety and stress, which harms our physical and mental health. It is no surprise then that, according to some surveys, workers across the world value job security more highly than wages.
Uber, and Airbnb to a different extent, implemented the same battle plan. Bezos is an investor in both companies and, to some degree, has relationships with both CEOs. It is not a surprise that they are heirs to Amazon.

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.
I always respond to characters who have depth. I’m always interested in those people. They’re the ones who surprise you.
When I was happily married and found myself pregnant, I just thought that this would be just the next, normal chapter. I was absolutely thrilled. So what a surprise it was when it turned out to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Most things in life come as a surprise.
Surprise is important. I think that’s the essence of entertainment, really.
The biggest surprise, which is also the best, is that I didn’t know I would love motherhood as much as I do.
I like the busy-ness of office life. What I discovered, to my surprise, is that I love the solitary nature of writing. What happens is that you write when you’re ready.
I saw a story in the Los Angeles Times that 40 percent of the viewers are men. It didn’t really surprise me.
Listen, I’ve been pretty fortunate. And if I’ve been underrated, it’s actually been something I’ve been able to work with; I can surprise people. It sets me up to exceed expectations, so I don’t mind.
I wouldn’t say I’m a very controlling person. For instance, when I talk to the actors, I don’t tell them exactly what I want because I want them to surprise me. I even encourage them to change some of the verses of the script if they need to.
As for design, I gravitate to traditional styles but mix it with an element of surprise. Whether it’s a big sash bow in the back or an unexpected fabric, it all needs to work together.
It’s never a surprise to me that a job that I’m doing reflects what I’m going through or what I’m thinking about.
The individual can maintain himself in a society definitely organized only through possessing an equally definite mental and moral constitution. This is what the neuropath lacks. His state of disturbance causes him to be constantly taken by surprise by circumstances.
The secret to humor is surprise.
Anytime I’m involved with anything that’s well-received, it’s a surprise to me.
Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.
Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.
I always surprise myself with my voice. A lot of people don’t get it, and they’re like, ‘You can’t sing. Stop. What are you doing?’ And it’s funny to hear a lot people say I sing in falsetto because it’s not falsetto – that’s my voice.
Being honest, when I was playing for Tooting & Mitcham, I was buzzing, thinking: ‘I’m semi-pro.’ Then when I made my debut in League One, I was buzzing again, thinking ‘I’m pro.’ Then it was the Championship, then the Premier League, and then called up for England. And each time it happened, it was a surprise to me.

I love the element of surprise, throwing people off of what they think they know about what I can do and who I am. I just want to keep doing that.
The World Championship gold was a surprise and took a lot of pressure off in terms of qualifying for Rio, but I still need more points, and winning in Manchester would be massive for me.
My characters surprise me constantly. My characters are like my friends – I can give them advice, but they don’t have to take it. If your characters are real, then they surprise you, just like real people.
No surprise that, as companies have adopted social media en masse, demand for software and applications to manage and monitor social use has exploded.
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.
What makes ‘Maybach Music V’ so special was, of course, I put the album out celebrating my daughter’s birthday as well, and DeJ Loaf is her favorite artist. So ‘Maybach Music V,’ I wanted a real airy type of feel. Just a real slow vibe to it that’s also going to surprise my daughter. So that’s real special.
What I always got excited about with ‘Arrested Development‘ was the element of surprise.
I never really set out to do anything in the charts with music. It came as a total surprise that I did, and it’s fun.
I want to evolve each season. I never want to be one of those brands where people know what they’re going to see. I always want an element of surprise. One thing I never want to do is copy what anybody else is doing. I have a signature, and it’s very important to me to stay true to that.
Jeff Eastin is good in that he’ll tell me a plot twist that’s coming up if he thinks it would be something Peter would know ahead of time, and if it’s something that would be a surprise to Peter, I’ll tell Jeff, ‘Oh, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.’ And then it’s exciting to read it and exciting to play it.
But instead I usually say that, though it may surprise them, I too believe in the necessity of organization.
It’s not a surprise to us that every large technology company is trying to build an offering like AWS’ because it’s such a good value proposition for customers.
I remember going to stadiums and huge sections of the stand gave you racial abuse. It was never nice but it wasn’t a surprise – particularly when I was first at Spurs.
Sometimes you surprise the goalkeeper and sometimes the goalkeeper surprises you. In my career, I tried to do more of the first than the second.
The rules of suspense are that you do know, and you just don’t know when. In the Hitchcock rules of suspense, you are supposed to know that there is a bomb on the bus that might blow up, and then it becomes very tense – but if you don’t know that there’s a bomb and it just blows up, then it’s just a surprise.
When reflecting upon it today, that the Pearl Harbor attack should have succeeded in achieving surprise seems a blessing from Heaven. It was clear that a great American fleet had been concentrated in Pearl Harbor, and we supposed that the state of alert would be very high.
What’s challenging is to surprise the audience.
As human beings, we are addicted to novelty. Part of being stylish is surprisingness. Part of being an artist is surprisingness. If there are ingredients of beauty, it certainly is one of them. Surprise is like a spice on the meal, it makes you say: ‘woo‘.
War contributes greatly to global warming, which shouldn’t surprise us. All those bombs going off, all those rockets, all those planes and helicopters. All that fuel of various kinds being used. It pollutes the air and water of this very fragile and interconnected planet.
Shortly thereafter, some friends encouraged me to try out for the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant. To my surprise, I won – and was sent to New York City to compete nationally.
I want to keep looking for roles that have an element of surprise.
Don’t ever put anything past kids. They will surprise you in the best ways.
Like anything else, acting can become boring – a chore, really – if there isn’t any challenge. And I like taking challenges. Just when people think they have me figured out, I like to surprise them.
We think till the last minute that nothing can happen to us. But cancer will grab you by surprise, and then it’s too late.
I believe that, by and large, people are good and everybody you meet is more likely to surprise you in a positive way than in a negative way.
There’s this element of surprise when you’re writing songs, like it’s something outside of you that you get to be part of. And it’s just exciting. And that’s why I keep writing – because I like that feeling.
One thing that is exciting about fashion is the surprise element. People don’t know what they want. They just know when they see it.
Awards are always a pleasant surprise. They are the candy-floss parts of our job – a lovely added extra to attract people’s attention. The bottom line is that you want to sell tickets.
I always get recognised and that always takes me by surprise. Its not something I ever expect or get used to.
I make music and hope people enjoy it – but when they do it’s always a surprise. A nice surprise, but not one that I expect to always be there.
I knew nothing about film at all. I suppose the biggest surprise is all these things. In the theatre we sort of do, I might do two or three key interviews and that would be it.
The thing that we tell – that I tell – members is, ‘Vote your district. Vote your conscience; just don’t surprise us.’
I’m sure it came as no surprise to my friends and family when I became an illustrator and then a writer because, from about the age of five, I was one of those children who always had his nose in a book.
Merit pay has failed repeatedly, and it’s no surprise. When you base teacher pay on standardized test scores, you won’t improve education; you just promote the high-stakes testing craze that’s led parents, students and educators to shout ‘Enough!’ all across the country.
The biggest surprise about making a movie has got to be the wait in between takes.
I was never particularly academic, so it was no great surprise when I failed my 11-plus and consequently went to Wibsey Secondary Modern. I did all right in English, history and music, which were the subjects that most interested me.
We live in a time of short attention spans and long stories. The short attention spans are seen as inevitable, the consequence of living our lives in thrall to flickering streams of information. The long stories are the surprise, as is the persistence of the audience for them.
I always wanted to be a character actor rather than the poster boy that they tried to make me 100 years ago. An actor has a degree of responsibility to change for the audience, to give them something new each time, to surprise and not bore them.
‘The Good Wife‘ was definitely the biggest surprise and gift that I’ve had in a long time, and that did come out of some other work that I had done. That whole adage of ‘work begets work’ actually worked in that case – it was at the very end of their first season that my character was first introduced.
It is no surprise that companies do not often respond to moral pressure alone. We need to hit them hard in their pocketbook and on their balance sheet. We need to show them that their stock prices will be affected if their actions encourage Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions.
‘Strong Island’ is slang for Long Island, New York. And it really grew out of – what may surprise people, it really grew out of the very vibrant hip-hop scene that, you know, is located and still generates artists out of Long Island.
It will come as no surprise that I would count Nietzsche the perspectivist – he who questioned not only the possibility but the value of Truth – as the enemy. There will be even fewer surprises that I would reject the Dionysian Nietzsche, the celebrant of transgressive desire.

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.
People often express surprise that I’m not a psychopath. But it’s not about what I want to do to other people, it’s that I’m scared of what other people might do to me.
As congressional Republicans and the Trump administration continue to attack the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it came as no surprise that the House voted on two bills that would weaken emissions standards and, as a result, put our public health at risk.
One thing that seems to surprise the studios is finding out later my willingness to audition. Under the right circumstances, I actually enjoy it very much.
I think for a horror experience to be really scary, something has to be a bit of a shock and a surprise. It’s like something you’ve never experienced before.
I love the surprise element of being a mom.
It came as a great surprise to receive an MBE and it is a true honor for me and my family.
When I think people like one record more than the other, then someone will surprise me.
To my great surprise and pleasure, I have had dinner with most of the people living with whom I would like to have dinner.
When you can surprise yourself, you’re truly acting.
For me, if you distill comedy down, it is surprise and the unexpected. That has to be it on its most base level, in any form.
I often do things that surprise me, not to mention others.
I grew up on movie sets, so it was something I just found familiar. When I was growing up also, in high school, I would audition for things and my parents let me audition for things – with the thought that I wouldn’t get them. And then I would get them… sometimes, and it would surprise them.
With every project, there are things that surprise you with the meaning they take on as you start to use them.
I usually start with an ending, then outline high points of things that happen, and kind of make up the rest as I go along. Occasionally, the characters surprise me, and I wonder how we got here. Other times, the characters are stubborn and won’t do something I want them to in the story.
I thought going in that I had to have this very broad, very palatable sensibility that works for everybody, but then the stuff that I’m the most proud of, and probably even got the most success from, was outwardly an expression of queerness or gayness. That’s been a nice surprise.
‘Thunderbolts’ I was mostly attracted to because I really wanted to write Punisher and Elektra and Deadpool, who are characters I have always really enjoyed. But the funny thing is that over time, I came to really like Red Leader; he became one of my favorite guys in the book. Sometimes characters surprise you.
It was a bit of a surprise when I became a Tory MP. My friends said it was a stupid idea.
If they aren’t real enough to surprise me, then they aren’t real enough to go on the page.
You know who I’d like to open for? This will be a surprise, but I’ll tell you who: Iron Maiden.
The Heisman attention has definitely been a little bit of a surprise. It’s been out of my hands. It’s something I’m not focused on. I’m focused on the season and trying to win as many games as possible.
It certainly should not surprise us that a young person without any real stake in a legitimate occupation or career may get into trouble more easily. Such persons readily accept the idea that they have been unjustly deprived of money, status, and opportunity.
The hardest thing to do in wrestling is that every time you show up, there’s just a ring with three ropes, turnbuckles on each side, it’s extremely hard to do something to surprise and shock the fans.
When you reach 95, after you get over your surprise, you start looking back.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that those who choose acting as a profession are phonies who live in a fantasy world. What is surprising is how many of them are blissfully unaware of it.
It’s great to surprise people. If you do the same thing all over again, which people expect you to do, they’re going to get bored.
I can be a lady – surprise!
It’s no surprise that hackers working for North Korea, Iran’s mullahs, Vladimir V. Putin in Russia, and the People’s Liberation Army of China have all learned that the great advantage of cyberweapons is that they are the opposite of a nuke: hard to detect, easy to deny, and increasingly finely targeted.
I wasn’t expecting to be traded, so it definitely was a surprise to me. But things happen in this league so I just decided to take in stride and start a new journey in Milwaukee.
The audience today has heard every joke. They know every plot. They know where you’re going before you even start. That’s a tough audience to surprise, and a tough audience to write for. It’s much more competitive now, because the audience is so much more – I want to say ‘sophisticated.’
It has happened a few times that I’ve found myself in a surprise mid-tour recording session.
That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing – which is never an easy thing to do.
Every so often, you want to map out your plot mythology but never so specifically that you can’t let a story surprise you. You want to allow the type of action of the writer’s room so that you have the ability to take a left turn.
As a footballer, you have to be confident you can win all the time so it does not come as a surprise.
I am an actor. Let me act, let me audition. Let me show what I can do. You need to surprise yourself every time and that will surprise the audience or casting person.
No surprise here: Pop music is by far the most conservative art form there is.
No gamer, whether you’ve played ‘Duke 3D’ or you haven’t, can play ‘Duke Forever’ without having experiences that surprise them.
I think it is OK to surprise people.
If you catch me lying, it’s probably because I’m about to surprise someone for their birthday, or hide away the specific details about a company getaway to a strange but amazing place.
‘Taken’ is a really difficult project because it was a big surprise for everybody.
It came as a surprise to find that a professional society and journal (Econometrica) were flourishing, and I entered this area of study with great enthusiasm.
I ask all my actors to do two things: I ask them to fail for me, and I ask them to surprise me.
Nothing surprises me. One thing I don’t ever have in my world is surprise.
The success of the storytellers – we’re only as good as what we can withhold from the audience. Aspects of surprise and letting things play out for the audience – it’s so much a part of their enjoyment. It’s one of the great things about working in the movies and being a great storyteller.
It’s no surprise to me or the other Isley brothers that I can sing, because I used to sing all the time in practice. The surprise is that somebody else likes it.
Confidence, to me, is just pushing yourself a little bit further than you think you can go, and you’ll always surprise yourself.
It was very difficult to startle or surprise someone with a particular sound during the family computer era.
I’m sure there are a few things in my CD collection that might surprise people. I like classical music, the blues, and I’m a big fan of alternative rock.

Surprise is something that’s very difficult to act.
First, a confession: I liked ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ This news is even more of a surprise to me than it might be to those who, years ago, heard me quip that I quit reading it because ‘the moment the albino assassin came through the door, I left.’
There is no rule on how your child will grow, and there will be a surprise on daily basis.
The initial attraction of a political convention was that often the outcome was not preordained. There was at least some element of surprise. But, now it’s like tuning in to a movie where you already know the plot and the ending. It’s just not that interesting.
Thinking of the dismissal by Leicester, the first thing that comes to mind is a sense of surprise even more than of bitterness.
It’s great to be a blonde. With low expectations it’s very easy to surprise people.
I hope it will come as no surprise that I have something to say.
I just surprise myself every day.
Even if I never sold another book, I’d keep writing, because the stories are here, in my head. Stories that just need to be told. I love watching a plot unfold, and feeling the surprise when the unexpected happens.
Onboarding starts with satisfying the most basic of Maslow’s psychological needs: belonging. New hires shouldn’t arrive to an empty cube and be forced to forage through corridors searching for a computer and the bare necessities of office life. A new hire isn’t a surprise visitor from out of town. Plan for their arrival.
The violent quarrel between the abstractionists and the surrealists seems to me quite unnecessary. All good art has contained both abstract and surrealist elements, just as it has contained both classical and romantic elements – order and surprise, intellect and imagination, conscious and unconscious.
Carlton Cole is no surprise to me anymore. For me, some of the bits he does are unbelievable.
Time and time again, the players constantly surprise you and often not do at all what you expect and completely muck up your preparation, and that’s kind of the beauty of the game. It wouldn’t be as fun to the DM if everything worked out exactly how you thought it would.
You can never make an assumption about the conversation you are about to have with somebody. People will always surprise you, which is what keeps you on your toes.
The idea behind a dish – the delight and the surprise – makes a difference. Great literature surprises and delights, and provokes us. It isn’t just ‘Here’s the facts – boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.’ It’s how you tell it.
It’s like a cast of actors; you’re all working together closely under pressure to produce something everyday. And when we put up an issue, it’s like the curtains opening on a new play. I really like that daily sense of surprise.
I love the fact that it starts from there, and you don’t know where it’s gonna go. Wait long enough – love will find you. Everything’s a surprise. When you think you’ve got it all figured out… as Emerson said, the dice of God are always loaded.

I once threw myself a surprise party on Twitter because I was lonely. It was awesome. Thousands of people showed up and then Wil Wheaton and I made a bunch of monkey-ponies. It was the most successful surprise party I’ve ever thrown in my life. It was also the only surprise party I’ve ever thrown in my whole life.
Obama’s policies have been approximately the same as Bush’s, though there have been some slight differences, but that’s not a great surprise. The Democrats supported Bush’s policies.
Of all the foods we share, there is nothing more primordial than meat. It’s no surprise that meat-eaters still want a partner who will give, receive and share this primordial symbol of a budding partnership.
It should surprise no one that I’m out arguing for small government, reduced spending and getting our financial house in order, along with reasonable regulations and no more.
It is up to me to adapt and to continue to surprise with my positioning, the timing of my runs, the trajectories, when I call for the ball.
This may surprise you, but I was arrested in high school.
When Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership – not once, but twice – and defied the mainstream media‘s expectations to gain Labour seats in the 2017 election, it was no surprise to those of us who have always backed Corbyn and his agenda for change.
Like any other entertainment medium, we must create an emotional response in order to succeed. Laughter, fear, joy, affection, surprise, and – most of all – accomplishment. In the end, triggering these feelings from our players is the true judgment of our work. This is the bottom line measurement of success.
The pickup points are a natural additional network for delivery. For me, the surprise is that Amazon didn’t come up with that idea.
I don’t say that I’m going to be like every other comic that’s blue, or gratuitous use of language. I do try to have my own standards: I don’t do everything the audience wants, and I do try to surprise them.
I’m good at forgetting auditions, and then there is a surprise to getting something.
Women are like wine: strong, spirited, full bodied, intoxicating, and potent. And we never cease to surprise.
The government believed that adherence to authority was human nature, so the Gezi protests were a real surprise to them. After the initial moment of shock, they decided to severely punish those participating in what they called an act of disobedience to authority.
To me, all success is a delightful surprise, since one can absolutely never predict it.
I’m teetotal and a vegetarian, which is sometimes a surprise to people who meet me expecting me to resemble one of the characters in my books.
I was so thrilled to be in ‘Doctor Who.’ It’s such a wonderful experience, and the fan base that that show has never fails to surprise me.
I got pregnant at 40 by surprise. It’s funny, because when we found out we were pregnant, I said, ‘Okay, let’s experience that.’ You just have to just go with it because it’s rare.
Bitcoin and the block chain enables a whole new way to incentivize and transact, so change the world with this new tool. Create and build! Surprise us with an idea we have never seen before.
A well-written character is one where you don’t know in which direction it’s going; the character could spring a surprise any moment.
I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.
I never rule anything in or out; life can surprise you.

So it won’t be a surprise when the Greek default actually happens and we expect it one way or the other to be relatively soon.
‘Sopranos‘ was a fascinating moment, just catching our whole culture by surprise, a fun ride to be on while I’m learning the craft.
I still think in this country, and this might surprise you, the one thing that George Bush said as president that I do agree with, I love that phrase, ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations.’
I don’t think anyone ever gets over the surprise of how differently one audience’s reaction is from another.
The element of surprise is the most important thing and what keeps me interested in writing. I can feel it if I’ve written that predictable or boring line, and I will carry that around with me all day.
Jury instructions are so numerous and complex, it’s a wonder jurors ever wade through them. And so it should come as no surprise that they can sometimes get stuck along the way. The instruction on circumstantial evidence is confusing even to lawyers. And reasonable doubt? That’s the hardest, most elusive one of all.
I like to create a nice environment and let people reveal themselves instead of trying to trick them or surprise them with a hidden question.
It was a surprise for my family when I told them that I was offered ‘Madras Cafe.’ My family was initially worried because I have got no film background.
I got nominated for a Tony, which was a complete surprise. It was an experience that I will always cherish.
Terrorists always have the advantage of surprise.
Since JPMorgan Chase announced its surprise $2 billion-and-growing trading loss, there have been renewed calls from economists, pundits, and politicians to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that prevented commercial banks from participating in investment banking activities.
You surprise yourself on some balls off the bat. You don’t think you have a chance to catch it. And then your natural ability just takes over.
There is no such thing as an average person. They really are guidelines for people to grapple with the unknown, and we can always surprise expectations.
To my surprise, I discovered that I could act, and I liked it even better than boxing.
Because of Twitter, I think people know most every single thing about me. I don’t know if there’s anything that would surprise people about me.
I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.
Well, because my films are really about how people interact with each other, and the complexity, and the nuance, and the surprise of those moments I try to create a safe enough space that allows the actors to operate from their own instincts. My direction is more suggestions, prompts or questions.
When we began to tour, no one expected me to be a part of the band, so I used that as a tool, and would start the set off-stage or in the audience, as a surprise, because no one expected this little girl to get up and rock the way I do.
It will not be a surprise to you to learn I’m more interested in the future of the Arctic Circle than the future of the Arctic Monkeys.
Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.
I actually am grateful for Freddy Krueger, because the big surprise to me – with that sort of double punch of science fiction TV series and then the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ phenomenon – was that I got an international celebrity out of it.
More than any other candidate, Mr. Trump embodies the evolving norms of communication that are being enabled and encouraged by technology and the matrix of connectivity that defines modern life: authenticity over authority, surprise over consistency, celebrity over experience.
I’m always in flats. Jeans, jumper, flat shoes or a pair of trainers. It would probably surprise people, but I have to be comfortable. It’s not about me dressing up and looking good. I’ve got to get stuff done.

When we perform music at TV shows, we always try to do something that’s not scripted because anything that’s a surprise for the audience and the crew and the other performers, it works better on camera and for the people back home, too.
I write fast. But it takes me a while to get going. It’s very important for me to see my whole plot. I have to see the end first because I like a surprise in the end. Which is why I let characters and plot gestate in my mind.
I always like to come with stuff people don’t expect me to. I like the element of surprise.
When you need a good laugh, do you reach for a book? I don’t. I expect books to move me deeply and submerge me in another reality. So when a novel makes me roar with laughter, it’s always a delightful surprise.
Few, if any, political analysts predicted the Arab Spring. The raw energy of millions of protestors in the streets of Tunis and Cairo came as a surprise to many who believed that Arabs were essentially reconciled to their governments and non-democratic rule.
I don’t tell everyone my life history because if everyone knows your inside-leg measurement, how can you surprise them?
I never assumed I would have that commercial success, so it was a total surprise. And honestly, I never assumed that it would ever happen again.
Al Qaeda operates by launching surprise attacks on civilian targets with the goal of massive casualties. Our only means for preventing future attacks, which could use WMDs, is by acquiring information that allows for pre-emptive action.
I always knew I would be successful. So there was no element of surprise.
I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.
It’s always a surprise! This business is always an adventure.
I don’t know why it surprises people that I surprise them.
The biggest surprise to me is many members in Congress don’t actually work.
I have the ‘thing’ worked out – the trick or the surprise or the pivotal fact. Then I just start somewhere and let the story work itself out.
I like to surprise myself. I like to surprise my fans, too.
I like to surprise people. I try to take risks.
What I treasure most at any moment is intimacy, surprise, a sense of mystery, wit, depth and love. A handful of cherished friends offer me this, and the occasional singer or film-maker or artist. But my most reliable sources of electricity are Henry David Thoreau, Shakespeare, Melville and Emily Dickinson.
I think the best actors do both. I think they fulfill what you want them to do, in terms of the vision for the whole piece. And then they always bring something that does surprise you and shock you.
When you put your characters in a dire situation, they often do things that surprise even you, so you have to go back and revise your original conception of who they are.
The major international appeal for ‘House of Cards‘ was kind of a surprise because it’s a very American show. What we learned is that American politics is very American, but greed and corruption and all of that is very global.
I think my first thought on reaching the summit- of course, I was very, very pleased to be there, naturally – but my first thought was one of a little bit of surprise. I was a little bit surprised that here I was, Ed Hillary, on top of Mt. Everest. After all, this is the ambition of most mountaineers.

When one person does something that works, everyone else wants to do it. So it didn’t surprise me at all to see people come with different versions of ‘American Idol‘ and a lot of them are exactly the same but with different twists.
Ekk Deewana Tha’ will have a surprise ending to watch out for.
The essence of comedy, drama, and horror is surprise. I have an uncanny ability to surprise people because they look at my face, and they don’t know where I’m going.
The biggest surprise to people is that I sang background on Pink Floyd‘s ‘The Wall’ album.
Hatred of the mother is familiar, but the mother’s hatred still comes as a surprise.
I start with a character and a situation, but I don’t know what’s going to happen until I write it. Sometimes things happen that surprise me.
When you’re willing to be vulnerable, you can surprise yourself at how strong you can be.
I’ve always believed in speaking my mind, and I think the technology has made it more prominent. Even a common man‘s voice is heard prominently now, much to the chagrin and surprise of politicians. They aren’t used to that.
There are very few things that surprise me.
The pin-up thing took us completely by surprise. I found it hard because I got singled out, and I didn’t like it. There was a lot of disillusionment.
My whole career’s been kind of crazy, so you can’t really surprise me.
The rule has been that when one opens a new channel to the universe, there is usually a surprise in it. Why should the gravitational channel be deprived of this?
At ‘The West Wing,’ I cast newscasters, and when you put out a casting call for actors, half of the people who come in are real local L.A. newscasters. Each time, I ended up hiring one of them, because they’re better at it. Big surprise! A newscaster is better at playing a newscaster than an actor is.
I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn that I kept a diary – actually, quite a number of them over the years.
A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.
What I try to do as an actor is constantly find that, find ways to risk, find opportunities to fall on my face if it’s going to be worth it, and then maybe I’ll surprise myself.
Be transparent about why the termination is happening. If you did things right, it shouldn’t be a surprise to the person.
You have to surprise opponents, keep them guessing. Doing the same thing over and over again without variation will not work.

The biggest threat to a better life is the desire to keep the future under control – to make the world predictable by reining in creativity and enterprise. Progress as a neat blueprint, with no deviations and no surprise, may work in children’s cartoons or utopian novels. But it’s just a fantasy.
I always try that my next film is different than my last movie. I would like to surprise my audience; that, I think, is the job of an actor.
I think there’s something funny about people who laugh in the face of convention or surprise us morally.
Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.
The day has to come when it’s not a surprise that a woman has a powerful position.
People aren’t expecting me to look how I do. But that’s one of the main reasons it works so well: the surprise factor.
I have a lot of maneuvers in my back pocket, so to speak. And to me, the thing is to always surprise the audience so they’re always seeing something new, and not just get stuck in the same rut.
The scientists often have more unfettered imaginations than current philosophers do. Relativity theory came as a complete surprise to philosophers, and so did quantum mechanics, and so did other things.
Occasionally, you get a nice surprise when someone covers your song in an extraordinary way.
When you surprise yourself and you can’t remember what the take felt like, then something transformative has happened.
That was my first introduction to BMWs in 1978, when my friend bought it for me as a surprise with my money. And ever since then, I’ve stuck to BMWs.
‘Harlem: The Unmaking of a Ghetto‘ is a surprise and a fresh way of looking at Harlem, connecting the black district with the architecture of its historical past.
Family really meant almost nothing to me for many years but then, to my enormous surprise, when I met my partner James I found myself re-engaging and re-connecting. My mother died in 1977 but I got to know my father as an adult, and he got on well with James. A rapprochement with my whole family followed.