Sunday, April 29, 2017 – What No One Expected
Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him. ~ Charles De Gaulle
If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience? ~ George Bernard Shaw
When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we’d been saying they were. ~ John F. Kennedy
Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment – that which they cannot anticipate. ~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Always mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy if possible. ~ Stonewall Jackson
Whoever can surprise well must conquer. ~ John Paul Jones
I try not to be surprised. Surprise is the public face of a mind that has been closed. ~ Bernard Beckett, Genesis
Go and surprise the whole country by doing something right. ~ Mark Twain
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
There can never be surprises in logic. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein
Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise. ~ Alice Walker
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they’re going to be when you kill them. ~ William Clayton
There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men. ~ John Locke
Charm is a product of the unexpected. ~ Jose Marti
I like the serendipitous surprises of reality. ~ Lawrence Wright
Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us. ~ Boris Pasternak
What a surprise to find you could shift the contents of your head like rearranging furniture in a room. ~ Lisa Alther
Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often. ~ Mae West
Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. ~ Samuel Johnson
The most important American addition to the World Experience was the simple surprising fact of America. We have helped prepare mankind for all its later surprises. ~ Daniel J. Boorstin
The future is bound to surprise us, but we don’t have to be dumbfounded. ~ Kenneth Boulding
Tomorrow night I’m giving a lecture on silence and invisibility. Don’t be surprised if I don’t show up. ~ Jarod Kintz
Knowing is not simply a material act, since the object that is known always conceals something beyond the empirical datum. All our knowledge, even the most simple, is always a minor miracle, since it can never be fully explained by the material instruments that we apply to it. In every truth there is something more than we would have expected, in the love that we receive there is always an element that surprises us. ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth: Caritas in Veritate
We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low. ~ Desmond Tutu
Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law. ~ Hubert H. Humphrey
You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap! ~ Dolly Parton
The great and almost only comfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised. ~ Freya Stark
Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion. ~ Florence Nightingale
Which death is preferably to every other? The unexpected. ~ Julius Caesar
A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens. ~ Sir Robert Baden-Powell
I doubt whether the world holds for any one a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice-cream. ~ Heywood Broun
Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable. ~ Jane Austen
There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition. ~ William James
Ignorance makes for weakness and fear; knowledge gives strength and confidence. Nothing surprises an intellect that knows all things with a sense of discrimination. ~ Magdeleine Sable, Maximes et pensées diverses, 1678
Statistically, the probability of any of us being here is so small that you’d think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in contented dazzlement of surprise. ~ Lewis Thomas
As North, South, East and West form the directions of our physical reality, and cannot be taken away, so Surprise, Delight, Inspiration and Challenge form the directions of our psychological reality, and cannot be taken away. ~ Laura Teresa Marquez
I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter and I’m looking out of my third eye and everything that I’m supposed to be doing. It’s amazing what comes up, when you sit in that silence. “Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight! Mama’s got the magic of Clorox 2!” ~ Ellen DeGeneres
Sometimes the mind, for reasons we don’t necessarily understand, just decides to go to the store for a quart of milk. ~ Andrew Schneider
Why does the Air Force need expensive new bombers? Have the people we’ve been bombing over the years been complaining? ~ George Wallace
I’m a jerk to everyone. Best way to protect yourself from lawsuits. ~ David Hoselton
Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. ~ Albert Camus
The man who said, “Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed,” put the eulogy quite inadequately and even falsely. The truth “Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall be gloriously surprised.” The man who expects nothing sees redder roses than common men can see, and greener grass, and a more startling sun. Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall possess the cities and the mountains; blessed is the meek, for he shall inherit the earth. Until we realize that things might not be we cannot realize that things are. ~ G. K. Chesterton
Life is full of surprises, but never when you need one. ~ Bill Watterson
Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that can happen to a man. ~ James Thurber
Just Above Sunset 