Americans' addiction to sports with the NFL at the top is based on the excitement generated by the potential for the unexpected great play which can only happen with honest competition from great athletes.

Breaking records is not something you expect to be doing. That's like a sports thing it's not usually a comedy and writing thing.

Let him who expects one class of society to prosper in the highest degree while the other is in distress try whether one side of the face can smile while the other is pinched.

I have seen the science I worshiped and the aircraft I loved destroying the civilization I expected them to serve.

Everything takes me longer than I expect. It's the sad truth about life.

I know it's hard to blame the time but there's a bit of an expectation for a summer movie. I think that 'Superman Returns' was a bit nostalgic and romantic and I don't think that was what people were expecting especially in the summer.

I had to trick people into giving me money for my first film. Making a romantic comedy is easier and more expected from a woman than it is to make a drama about a Japanese warrior.

As a kid I quite fancied the romantic Bohemian idea of being an artist. I expect I thought I could escape from the difficulties of maths and spelling. Maybe I thought I would avoid the judgement of the establishment.

People expect me to be dark and gloomy then write that I'm a jolly chap and after all that is what I am. I think it's a case of an absolute romantic naivety that there should be a parallel between the work and the artist.

I had these kind of unrealistic expectations that were fueled by romantic comedies and it has both helped me and hurt me in many ways. It helped me because in general they've made me hopeful. I just figure things will eventually work out for me. But nobody is like any Tom Hanks character. Nobody is Hugh Grant. No one is Meg Ryan!