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Quotes of the Day for 7 December 2007 – Surprise
On this day in 1941, aircraft of the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor. Although it has come to light that this act may not have been a surprise to President Roosevelt or naval intelligence, Pearl Harbor has become synonymous with surprise. I do have some quotes dealing with surprise as a military tactic, but decided some quotes on the nature of surprise itself would be more helpful on a winter day.
The quotes:
We tend not to choose the unknown, which might be a shock or a disappointment or simply a little difficult to cope with. And yet it is the unknown with all its disappointments and surprises that is the most enriching.
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1906 - 2001
The only certain thing about the future is that it will surprise even those who have seen furthest into it.
- Eric Hobsbawm
There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition.
- Henry James, Partial Portraits
To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand.
- Jose Ortega y Gasset, 1883 - 1955
Wicked people are always surprised to find ability in those that are good.
- Marquis de Vauvenargues
I doubt whether the world holds for anyone a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice-cream.
- Heywood Campbell Broun, 1888 - 1939
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