Startled

Famous quotes containing the word startled:

    Nothing is poorer than a truth expressed as it was thought. Committed to writing in such cases, it is not even a bad photograph.... Truth wants to be startled abruptly, at one stroke, from her self-immersion, whether by uproar, music or cries for help.
    Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)

    We had not gone far before I was startled by seeing what I thought was an Indian encampment, covered with a red flag, on the bank, and exclaimed, “Camp!” to my comrades. I was slow to discover that it was a red maple changed by the frost.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    As it grew darker, I was startled by the honking of geese flying low over the woods, like weary travellers getting in late from Southern lakes, and indulging at last in unrestrained complaint and mutual consolation. Standing at my door, I could hear the rush of their wings; when, driving toward my house, they suddenly spied my light, and with hushed clamor wheeled and settled in the pond. So I came in, and shut the door, and passed my first spring night in the woods.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)