“There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved.”

“I'm surprised you don't know more about magic, Sister Verna. There is a word that is magic. It can accomplish more than you might think. Maybe you have heard it before. It is the word 'please.”

“Grigsby had looked at him askance. “Why is it,” he said, “that I have the distinct impression you’re not surprised by this news?” ‘Surprised by the fact that the reverend is first and foremost a human being? Surprised by the fact that every human being, reverend or ribald, can be undone by capricious circumstances? Or should I be surprised by the fact that a man who teaches love and forgiveness can love and forgive? Tell me, Marmy, exactly what it is I should be surprised at?”

“You interest me,' he said, and his tone suggested this fact itself surprised him, meant something more to him than perhaps it should: a man surprised by being interested was living a piss-poor facsimile of life, in her view.”

“Mystics find themselves delighted in being surprised again and again by the many loving manifestations of God . . . "Surprise" is one of the hallmarks of a true manifestation of the divine. This may be because God wants us to learn and relearn more deeply that his presence is a gift that cannot be earned or controlled. Or, it may simply be that God wants to surprise his beloved. ”

“Kagan's law of first contact,'You'll surprise you more than they will.”