What A Pleasant Surprise Quotes & Sayings

Horace sniffed the pleasant smell of wood smoke from the chimney. "Hope they're cooking something," he said. "I'm starved." "Who said that?" Will asked, feigning surprise and looking around in all directions. Then he pretended to relax. "Oh, it's only you, Horace. I didn't see you there in that cloak." Horace favored him with a long-suffering look. "Will, if it wasn't funny the first half-dozen times you said it, why do you think it would be funny now?" And — John Flanagan

Two steps to accept the pleasant: surprise & satisfaction.

Four steps to accept the unpleasant: denial, anger, sadness & submission. — Self

What's up, Tommy?" Newt exclaimed, his face filled with genuine happiness at the pleasant surprise that'd been sprung on them. Thomas couldn't remember exactly how long it'd been since the last time he'd seen Newt. "You look bloody fantastic for three in the morning. — James Dashner

Live your life as if you are ready to say goodbye to it at any moment, as if the time left for you were some pleasant surprise. — Marcus Aurelius

Speaking of food, English cuisine has received a lot of unfair criticism over the years, but the truth is that it can be a very pleasant surprise to the connoisseur of severely overcooked livestock organs served in lukewarm puddles of congealed grease. England manufactures most of the world's airline food, as well as all the food you ever ate in your junior-high-school cafeteria. — Dave Barry

If I shot an arrow and thought about an ass, would it surprise you that I hit Erik?" Stark asked me in a pleasant, nonchalant voice.
"Wouldn't surprise me," Heath said. — Kristin Cast

He sleeps a long, unquiet sleep disturbed by quick dreams of woodland places. These come as no great surprise. He meets elves and sprites and clowning devils. Anxiety? He wakes at last to a new world and to a morning lost in heavy mist. Sorely his bones ache - he traces the length of the soreness with a long, dull, luxurious sighing. Which is very pleasant, as it happens. Though also he feels about ninety fucking six. — Kevin Barry

A very pleasant surprise was that items I thought were naughty but that I enjoyed immensely, like strong coffee, dark chocolate, nuts, high fat yoghurt, wine and cheese, are actually likely to be healthy for me and my microbes. — Tim Spector

Imagining the worst has always been a great comfort to me. If there is turbulence there is an imminent crash. If she doesn't pick up the phone, she is fucking someone. If there is a lump it is a tumor. By thinking like this I protect myself from disappointment. And if anything other than the worst-case scenario unfolds, what a pleasant surprise! — Marc Maron

The Reverend Elmer Gantry was reading an illustrated pink periodical devoted to prize fighters and chorus girls in his room at Elizabeth J. Schmutz Hall late of an afternoon when two large men walked in without knocking.
Why, good evening, Brother Bains - Brother Naylor! This is a pleasant surprise. I was, uh - Did you ever see this horrible rag? About actoresses. An invention of the devil himself. I was thinking of denouncing it next Sunday. I hope you never read it - won't you sit down, gentlemen? - take this chair - I hope you never read it, Brother Floyd, because the footsteps of - — Sinclair Lewis

The lesson here is that high expectations can be counter-productive. We probably can do more to affect the quality of our lives by controlling our expectations than we can by doing virtually anything else. The blessing of modest expectations is that they leave room for many experiences to be a pleasant surprise, a hedonic plus. The challenge is to find a way to keep expectations modest, even as actual experiences keep getting better. — Barry Schwartz

What kind of meal would you like?"
"Something edible would be a pleasant surprise. — Michael J. Sullivan

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. — Josh Stewart

Actually, yes, I would say something like 'there may be bears here.' Bears are not a pleasant surprise for most people. — Seanan McGuire

One pleasant surprise was when I interviewed Butch Patrick. I was expecting this bitter old drunk, and instead he had a total sense of humor about his career and his drinking and drug problem. — Gilbert Gottfried

The pleasant surprise for me is that when I look into Tony's eyes, he's still 100% present, sharing everything that's going on. Acting with him is like a beautiful dance. — Genie Francis

The most pleasant surprise is to get lost in the beauty of life. — Debasish Mridha

Children seem to think that every pleasant thing has to be a surprise. — Marilynne Robinson

In a desperate bid to reestablish civilized talk and decorum, Miss Hisselpenny said, quite loudly, I see they are bringing in the fish course. What a pleasant surprise. I do so love fish. Don't you Mr., uh, Dubh. It is so very, um, salty. — Gail Carriger

Here, there was an air of a country village. An apricot-colored cat sat on top of a fence, bathing himself in the sun. A woman entered a courtyard, her face veiled behind a huge bunch of lilies and baby's breath. The sounds of Mozart drifted down from a window. It was a pleasant surprise; I hadn't known such neighborhoods existed in Montmartre. — Alice Steinbach

What is your favorite book?" "Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen," I said. Her expression was of a pleasant surprise. She asked me why. "Elizabeth Bennett is a resilient woman. She is unapologetic about who she is, and is a strong character who does not care what others think of her. My mother is that way too. — Gramash Paul

Did he say:"Hullo,Pippin!This is a pleasant surprise!"?No,indeed!He said:"Get up,you tom-fool of a Took!Where,in the name of wonder,in all this ruin is Treebeard?I want him.Quick"
-Pippin Took — J.R.R. Tolkien

Truth, when we are fortunate enough to find it, is like bad-tasting medicine. It rarely comes as a pleasant surprise, because if it surprises us, it means we've been denying it for some time and have a lot of beliefs based on falsehood. It's hard to give up those beliefs. — Orson Scott Card

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

Nor need it cause surprise that things disagreeable to the good man should seem pleasant to some men; for mankind is liable to many corruptions and diseases, and the things in question are not really pleasant, but only pleasant to these particular persons, who are in a condition to think them so. — Aristotle.

It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: (White) People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied, they were relieved - such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time. — Barack Obama

The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves. — Eric Hoffer

Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future ... If you are still in the process of raising children be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled, will disappear all too soon, and that you will, to your surprise, miss them, profoundly. — Thomas S. Monson

You saved us in the nick of time."
"Have I saved you?" asked the Hemulen in surprise. "I didn't mean to. I was looking for the caterpillars that were making such a noise down there." (Hemulens are generally a bit slow in grasping an idea, but they are very pleasant if you don't annoy them.) — Tove Jansson

More than a pleasant surprise, Danny Schmidt was no less than a revelation to me. And that's not a word I use lightly. — Keith Morris

She had been a pleasant surprise. From what her father had said I had expected an intellectual treat in a plain wrapper, but the package was attractive enough to take your attention off of the contents ... she was not in any way hard to look at, and those details which had been first disclosed when she appeared in her swimming rig were completely satisfactory. — Rex Stout

For it is written that if the wise man appears always stupid, his failures do not disappoint, and his success gives pleasant surprise. — Christopher Moore

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. — Sophie Thompson

Sometimes you think, "Oh man, this is going to be a fantastic movie," and then when you see it put together, you're like, "Oh, huh. Well, that didn't turn out quite the way I thought." Sometimes you think you're part of a project and it isn't that great, and then it sort of becomes a pleasant surprise. But I think there's just too many elements that affect the tone of a movie, so I think even for a director, it may be hard to gauge that. — Anna Faris

It is a pleasant surprise to him (the pure mathematician) and an added problem if he finds that the arts can use his calculations, or that the senses can verify them, much as if a composer found that sailors could heave better when singing his songs. — George Santayana

Tell me if this is too forward," he said in a low voice that was surprisingly shaky, "but do you want to come
"
"Yes," she answered, exhaling hot breath on his neck.
He grinned and gave her hip a squeeze. "I must say, this has been the most pleasant surprise I could imagine."
"You're not very imaginative, then." She gave him the flirty eyes.
"Good thing I am. — Ophelia London

In this article we begin to address the subject of vaccinosis, the general name for chronic dis-ease caused by vaccines. For some readers the very idea that vaccines are anything but wonderful and life-saving may come as a surprise, and it's not a very pleasant one. After all, the general population pictures vaccines as one of modern medicine's best and brightest moments, saving literally millions from the scourge of diseases like poliomyelitis and smallpox. — Richard Pitcairn

It's such a pleasant surprise when you come on set and you find someone in charge like Ken Branagh or James Ivory. You know that you're going to do a day's work and at the end of it, it's going to be good. — Anthony Hopkins

I've met your cousin," he told her, and her veins turned to ice.
"Oh,really? When was that?"
"A little over two years ago.I'm afraid it wasn't a very pleasant encounter."
"What a surprise," she said sarcastically. Then she couldn't resist asking, "What did you think of her?"
Hawk watched her intently. "She seemed nice enough. She's no better at following orders than you are-and not nearly as pretty." He grinned broadly. It was the first real smile she'd seen.
"What would you like for dinner?" she asked, moving the subject to safer ground. Her cheeks burned from the compliment-or insult-she wasn't sure which. — Kat Martin

If you start out depressed, everything is sort of a pleasant surprise. — Say Anything

Mr. Darcy," he said. "Mrs. Darcy what a pleasant surprise this is," the older man said as he came up to them. "Mr. — Mary Jane Ballew

It is high time that I learn to be more careful about hope, a reckless emotion for travelers. The sensible approach would be to the expect the worst, the very worst, that way you avoid grievous disappointment and who knows with a tiny bit of luck, you might even have a moderately pleasant surprise, like the difference between hell and purgatory. — Martha Gellhorn

I'm not afraid of being dead, that's to say there's nothing to be afraid of. I won't know I'm dead, would be my strong conviction. And if I find that I'm alive in any way at all, that'll be a pleasant surprise. I quite like surprises. — Christopher Hitchens

Happiness is the satisfaction you feel. There's delight, joy, excitement and pleasant surprise. — Dee Dee Artner

An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant as the case may be. — Oscar Wilde

Taken thus by surprise, it was several moments before she was able to decide whether to make herself known to him, or to await a formal introduction. The strict propriety in which she had been reared urged her to adopt the latter course; then she remembered that she was not a young girl any longer, but a guardian-aunt ... To flinch before what would certainly be an extremely disagreeable interview would be the act, she told herself, of a pudding-heart. Bracing herself resolutely, she got up from the writing-table, and turned, saying, in a cool, pleasant tone: 'Mr Calverleigh?'
He had picked up a newspaper from the table in the centre of the room, and was glancing through it, but he lowered it, and looked enquiringly across at her. His eyes, which were deep-set and of a light grey made the more striking by the swarthiness of his complexion, held an expression of faint surprise; he said: 'Yes? — Georgette Heyer