In the end, it wasn't death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life.

Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.

He wasn't the type for displays of affection, either verbal or not. He was disgusted by couples that made out in the hallways between classes, and got annoyed at even the slightest sappy moments in movies. But I knew he cared about me: he just conveyed it more subtly, as concise with expressing this emotion as he was with everything else. It was in the way he'd put his hand on the small of my back, for instance, or how he'd smile at me when I said something that surprised him. Once I might have wanted more, but I'd come around to his way of thinking in the time we'd been together. And we were together, all the time. So he didn't have to prove how he felt about me. Like so much else, I should just know.

The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.

If you love something set it free, but don't be surprised if it comes back with herpes.

The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.

I trust it will not be giving away professional secrets to say that many readers would be surprised perhaps shocked at the questions which some newspaper editors will put to a defenseless woman under the guise of flattery.

I've always known I would be a success but I was surprised at the way it came.

The success of Watermark surprised me. I never thought of music as something commercial it was something very personal to me.

Approach the game with no preset agendas and you'll probably come away surprised at your overall efforts.

When onstage I always try to take my audience through as many emotions as I possibly can. I want them to go from laughter to tears be shocked and surprised and walk out the door with a renewed sense of themselves - and maybe a smile.

I have been a reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy for a long time since I was 11 or 12 I think so I understand it and I'm not at all surprised that readers of the genre might enjoy my books.

Like many people in Britain I have an affectionate respect for the Queen and am surprised that I should be having such republican thoughts.

Beside all this I think there was something personal being Muslim myself who lived in the west I felt that it was my obligation my duty to tell the truth about Islam. It is a religion that has a 700 million following yet it's so little known about it which surprised me.

I know some people will be surprised to hear it but I've found that my music whether its blues or rock or whatever you want to call it can be channeled into a positive direction that actually helps people.

Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.

Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question and yet they all seem to. And they all seem to think human nature is basically good or they wouldn't be surprised by the effects of deregulation.

The focus on my appearance has really surprised me. I've always been a size 14 to 16 I don't care about clothes I'd rather spend my money on cigarettes and booze.

So far I'm not surprised by anything about being a mom. It's all pretty great - but that's what I expected.

Not to be weird but I still have an ongoing relationship with my mom even though she passed away and I've been surprised at how much I've been able to convey to her. Now I sound like a total weirdo but that's true.

I was always a drama queen. I remember playing in the kitchen trying to get my mom to think I was dead and call the police. When she didn't I would cry. I was always theatrical. I don't think any of my relatives are surprised.

All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men.

Men go into marriage with virtually no expectations whatsoever. Ten years later the men are delightfully surprised to find out that it's actually kind of nice and the women have sort of had to take a nose dive from what they thought it was going to be.

I had a sense of what leadership meant and what it could do for you. So am I surprised that I am sitting up here on the 62nd floor of Rockefeller Plaza? No.