Quotes & Sayings About Unpleasant Surprises

There are limits, after all, to the idea of limits. — Louis Menand

In mindfulness meditation, the self that needs protection is put into neutral. The observing self slips into the space between the ego and the dissociated aspects of the personality and observes from there. The breath, or sound, becomes the central object of focus, as opposed to thought. Thinking becomes one more thing to observe in the field of awareness but is robbed of its preeminent position. Do not grasp after the pleasant or push away the unpleasant, but give equal attention to everything there is to observe, taught the Buddha. This is difficult at first but becomes remarkably easy once one gets the hang of it. One learns first to bring one's attention to the neutral object and then to relax into a state of choiceless awareness rather than always trying to maintain control. As the ego's position is weakened, waking life takes on aspects of dream life to the extent that new surprises keep unexpectedly emerging. — Mark Epstein

Each of my novels has come from a different place, and the processes are not always entirely conscious. I have lived off and on in America for a number of years and so have accumulated observations, found things interesting, been moved to tell stories about them. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The iPod is a perfect example of Steve [Jobs]' methodology of starting with the user and looking at the entire end-to-end system. — John Sculley

I'm deeply, deeply passionate about creating peace and well-being in the classroom, and well-being as a global nation. — Goldie Hawn

There are always surprises. Life may be inveterately grim and the surprises disproportionately unpleasant, but it would be hardly worth living if there were no exceptions, no sunny days, no acts of random kindness. — T.C. Boyle

You can't know what an experience will mean to future-you until you are future-you. You need millions of seconds of perspective, which ultimately, only time can buy. — John Green

Focus all your meals around high-quality animal protein. You should eat a large variety, and plan your meals around which kind of protein you'll be eating. — Al Sears

Sometimes when I've thought o' my life, and the little pleasure I've had in it, I've believed that, maybe, I was one of those doomed to die by the falling of a star from heaven. — Elizabeth Gaskell

The angel of mercy, the child of love, together had flown to the realms above. — Fanny Crosby

People who think they know what is going to happen next are fools. Surprises - or what the brilliant author Nassim Taleb calls 'Black Swans' - are inevitable. Some are likely to be desperately unpleasant too — Martin Wolf

I have moments, like a guy saying to me on the tube, "You know, you look a lot like Jessie Ware." — Jessie Ware

If Mattel ever makes a Drag Queen Barbie, they damn well ought to pattern that doll's proportions after Sister Rose. Those were legs that could crack a horse's ribs, and they knew how to move. — Cherie Priest

The world of the arts is by no means always comfortable, but neither is it likely ever to be boring. It is full of surprises, humor, traps for the unwary, and challenges to smugness. It is a world of moods as well as of revelation, of beliefs and fears, of unpleasant truth as well as of delicious fantasy. Perhaps it is arrogant to say that anyone who does not venture into this world is only half-interested in life. I say it, nonetheless. — Russell Lynes

Abroad, they have covered pretty much all subjects, explored every possibility, every twist. So similarities between ideas you have and those filmed abroad are quite possible. — Ajay Devgan

We've a saying that you should always expect pleasant surprises. The unpleasant surprises will come anyway. — Petra Durst-Benning

There were two unpleasant surprises [about Washington]. One was the inertia of Congress, the length of time it takes to get a complicated piece of legislation through ... and the other was the irresponsibility of the press. — Jimmy Carter

Danae and Theano nodded but settled down more comfortably to hear their friend tell it once again. A story passed the time. A story took your thoughs far awar from your own troubles. A story could make you laugh or cry. it could fill you with wonder. And the stories you'd heard already were the best of all, because you knew there would be no disappointment at the end. There would be no unpleasant surprises. Of course, new stories that no one had told before were truly best of all, but they were rare, and hearing one for the first time was like coming across a scarlet flower you didn't recognise hidden in a crevice in the rocks. — Adele Geras

[A] pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant. — Rex Stout

Sometimes, Miss Jarmond, it's not easy to bring back the past. There are unpleasant surprises. The truth is harder than ignorance — Tatiana De Rosnay

I used to do a little acting in school. It was my first love, and I really thought I would be doing it as a career. I really wanted to complete that part of my ambition. — Jimmy Cliff

You can't have an up without a down. You can't have a left without a right. This is duality. If you have a problem, you must already have the solution. The question is, do you really want the solution, or do you want to perpetuate the problem? — Byron Katie

Almost everyone prefers normality because normality brings comfort and security. But when you think about it, normality hinders the reason why you are on this earth. — Euginia Herlihy