This file includes secrets and surprises, and songs about confidential, guessing, magic, mystery, personal, private, secrets, and surprises. Also see the other files in the Children section.
Quotes
- The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy. (Carl von Clausewitz)
- The best way to spread the most news in the least time is to disguise it as a secret.
- Camouflage is a game we all like to play, but our secrets are as surely revealed by what we want to seem to be as by what we want to conceal. (Russell Lynes)
- The easiest way to keep a secret is without help.
- Everyone needs someone with whom to share their secrets.
- Expect nothing; live frugally on surprise. (Alice Walker)
- The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart. (Saint Jerome (374 AD - 419 AD)
- He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave. (Baltasar Gracián)
- How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves? (François Duc de La Rochefoucauld)
- I usually get my stuff from people who promised somebody else that they would keep it a secret. (Walter Winchell)
- If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. (Kahlil Gibran)
- Life is a series of surprises, and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
- Life is full of surprises, isn't it? (Charlton Heston)
- Many a secret that cannot be pried out by curiosity can be drawn out by indifference. (Sydney J. Harris)
- The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us. (Ashley Morgan Montagu)
- Most people can keep a secret. It's the ones they tell it to that can't.
- A neurosis is a secret that you don't know you are keeping. (Kenneth Tynan)
- No one gossips about other people's secret virtues. (Bertrand Russell)
- None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them. (Charles Caleb Colton)
- Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. (Paul Tournier)
- A secret's a secret till it's told.
- A statement that begins: "This has to be kept in the strictest confidence..." makes me wonder why the speaker isn't keeping it in strictest confidence.
- Surprised by joy--impatient as the wind. (William Wordsworth)
- Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable. (Jane Austen)
- Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. (Benjamin Franklin)
- Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change. (Thomas Hardy)
- To him that you tell your secret you resign your liberty.
- To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly. (Samuel Johnson)
- To know that one has a secret is to know half the secret itself. (Henry Ward Beecher)
- The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it. (Samuel Johnson)
- What you see is not always what you get!
- Women's propensity to share confidences is universal. We confirm our reality by sharing. (Barbara Grizzuti Harrison)
- Wonder is from surprise, and surprise stops with experience. (Bishop Robert South)
- You shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
- Your secret is safe with me...and all my friends.
I've Got a Secret!
(author unknown)
I've got a secret! Oh, I've got a secret!
But I made a promise I wouldn't repeat it.
I've got a secret! Yes, I've got a secret!
But I took an oath and I vowed I would keep it.
Nothing and no one can make me reveal
this wonderful secret I swore I'd conceal.
No form of torture can make me disclose,
this secret I promised I wouldn't expose.
From now until doomsday my secret I'll keep;
I won't breathe a whisper or utter a peep.
Unless you assure me that you'll keep it too--
then maybe, just maybe, I'll share it with you
The Secret
(from "How Far Away is Somewhere")
A secret! A secret!
I just heard a secret
And nobody else must hear.
No talking!
No telling!
No whispering!
No hinting!
Or a secret will disappear.
A secret! A secret!
I just heard a secret!
Must it be kept so well?
A week?
An hour?
A minute?
A second?
I'm afraid I'm going to tell.
The Secret Sits
(Robert Frost)
We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.
Secrets
(Elsie Melchert Fowler)
The wind is whispering secrets;
Its voice is soft and low.
There are white and wintry secrets
In the quiet-falling snow.
Hear secrets in the footsteps
Of the people on the street,
And in gay, ribboned packages
Of everyone you meet.
There are merry secrets twinkling
In the eyes of many a child.
Secrets kept by Mom and Daddy--
When you asked they only smiled.
Oh, our world is full of secrets,
Now steal quietly away
Till they open up like magic
On a wondrous Christmas Day!
Secrets
(Letitia Elizabeth Landon)
Life has dark secrets; and the hearts are few
That treasure not some sorrow from the world--
A sorrow silent, gloomy, and unknown,
Yet coloring the future from the past.
We see the eye subdued, the practiced smile,
The word well weighed before it pass the lip,
And know not of the misery within:
Yet there it works incessantly, and fears
The time to come; for time is terrible,
Avenging, and betraying.
Secret Life
(Joseph Kallinger)
I discovered a secret of life
in a single line of poetry.
That was a week ago.
Today, I celebrate a new week
yet have forgotten what the secret was.
Oh, as life goes on
I shall discover it again
in other lines of poetry.
That is,
assuming there is a secret.
Life is Full of Surprises
(Audrey Heller)
Life, is certainly, full of surprises.
There are new things happening, everyday.
It may be hard, to keep up with these occurrences,
but we do our best, come what may.
Some I can say, are happy ones,
which all of us like to get.
Then there are those, I'd like to propose,
we try very hard, to forget.
We'd much rather look forward,
to good things and take every bit of it in.
Who needs to worry and get ourselves,
in a tail spin. If there are to be surprises,
may they always be, of the very best kind.
Now, I feel so much better,
because I got a load off of my mind!
Winter: My Secret
(Christina Rossetti, 1830 - 1894)
I tell my secret? No indeed, not I;
Perhaps some day, who knows?
But not today; it froze, and blows and snows,
And you’re too curious: fie!
You want to hear it? well:
Only, my secret’s mine, and I won’t tell.
Or, after all, perhaps there’s none:
Suppose there is no secret after all,
But only just my fun.
Today’s a nipping day, a biting day;
In which one wants a shawl,
A veil, a cloak, and other wraps:
I cannot ope to everyone who taps,
And let the draughts come whistling thro’ my hall;
Come bounding and surrounding me,
Come buffeting, astounding me,
Nipping and clipping thro’ my wraps and all.
I wear my mask for warmth: who ever shows
His nose to Russian snows
To be pecked at by every wind that blows?
You would not peck? I thank you for good will,
Believe, but leave the truth untested still.
Spring’s an expansive time: yet I don’t trust
March with its peck of dust,
Nor April with its rainbow-crowned brief showers,
Nor even May, whose flowers
One frost may wither thro’ the sunless hours.
Perhaps some languid summer day,
When drowsy birds sing less and less,
And golden fruit is ripening to excess,
If there’s not too much sun nor too much cloud,
And the warm wind is neither still nor loud,
Perhaps my secret I may say,
Or you may guess.
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- Confidential - Tina Turner (2000)
- Confidential Information - The Rembrandts (1990)
- Keep it Confidential - Nona Hendryx (1983)
- Private and Confidential - Gregory Isaacs (2000)
- Something Confidential - Irresponsible (2009)
- Strictly Confidential - Kenny Burrell (2006)
- Guess Again - Dennis Locorriere (2005)
- Guess Who - Slim Whitman (1970)
- Guess Who I Saw Today? - Eartha Kitt (1965)
- Guess Who Loves You? - Mary K. Miller (1979)
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Tonight? - Sue Thompson (1970)
- Guessing Games - Hall and Oates (1982)
- Guessing - Vaughn Monroe (1953)
- Three Guesses - Linda Scott (1961)
- Your Guess is As Good As Mine - The Derailers (2001)
Songs about Magic
- Abracadabra - The Steve Miller Band (1982)
- Could it Be Magic? - Barry Manilow (1975)
- Could This Be Magic? - The Dubs (1957)
- December Will Be Magic Again - Kate Bush (1980)
- Do You Believe in Magic? - Shaun Cassidy (1978)
- I Feel the Magic - Belinda Carlisle (1986)
- If All the Magic is Gone - Mark Gray (1984)
- If I Had a Magic Carpet - Ralph Flanagan (1950)
- It's Magic - The Platters (1962)
- Kind of Magic, A - Queen (1986)
- Lady of Magic - Maze (1977)
- Magic - The Cars (1984)
- Magic Be - Captain Beefheart (1974)
- Magic Bus - The Who (1968)
- Magic Carpet - The Dakotas (1963)
- Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf (1968)
- Magic Circle - Brian Connolly (1985)
- Magic Cowboy Boots - Carey Kotsionis (2003)
- Magic Eyes - Jack Grayson (1981)
- Magic is the Night - Kathy Young (1961)
- Magic Island, A - The High Tensions (1964)
- Magic Lanterns - Fat Mattress (1970)
- Magic Love - Betty Foley (1959)
- Magic Maker, Music Maker - The Jive Five (1982)
- Magic Mirror - The Whirlers (1961)
- Magic Moments - Gerry and the Pacemakers (1981)
- Magic Moon - Buddy Alan (1972)
- Magic Music Box, The - David Rose Orchestra (1955)
- Magic Penny, The - Cathy Fink (1988)
- Magic Shoes - The Playmates (1957)
- Magic Star - Margie Singleton (1963)
- Magic Town - The Vogues (1966)
- Magic Wand - Don and Juan (1962)
- Magical Musical Box - Del Shannon (1968)
- Magical Sea Horses - Jazzlevision (2004)
- Make a Little Magic - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1980)
- Mary Makes Magic - Hoyt Axton (1973)
- Moon Magic - Phil Baugh (1962)
- Moonlight and Magic - Ruby and the Romantics (1963)
- Moonlight Magic - Country Johnny Mathis (1957)
- Motorcity Magic - Beans Bowles (1992)
- My Baby Must Be a Magician - The Marvelettes (1968)
- Nighttime Magic - Larry Gatlin (1978)
- On a Magic Carpet Ride - Kiki Dee (1968)
- Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul and Mary (1963)
- Raining Like Magic - Raffi (1992)
- She Didn't Do Magic - Lobo (1971)
- She's Got the Magic - The Parade (1967)
- Some Kind of Magic - Bobby Hebb (1967)
- That Old Black Magic - Robert Maxwell (1964)
- This Could Be Magic - The Dubs (1957)
- This Magic Moment - Jay and the Americans (1968)
- Touch of Magic - Denim (1973)
- Tragic Magic - Nathan Davis (1976)
- Tristan's Magic Garden - Sky (1979)
- We Must Believe in Magic - Johnny Cash (1982)
- You Can Do Magic - America (1982)
- You Got the Magic - John Fogerty (1976)
- You've Got the Magic Touch - The Platters (1956)
- Your Magic Love - Carl McVoy (1961)
- Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan (1997)
- Chemicals, Chemistry, Mystery and More - A. Lee (1978)
- Great River Road Mystery - Justin Tubb (1969)
- Let the Mystery Be - Iris DeMent (1992)
- Mysteries of Love - Gene Thomas (1961)
- Mysterious - Scorpions (1999)
- Mystery Girl - Mark Valentino (1963)
- Mystery of Love - Dash Crofts (2000)
- Mystery of the Night - Little Joey and the Flips (1962)
- Mystery Street - Eddie Calvert Orchestra (1954)
- She's Still a Mystery to Me - Lovin' Spoonful (1967)
- My Impersonal Life - Three Dog Night (1971)
- My Personal Property - Bobby Short (2005)
- Nothing Personal - Don Grolnick (1989)
- Personal Property - Jimmy Jones (2005)
- Personal Secret - Cathy Carr (1959)
- Personally - Karla Bonoff (1982)
- Private and Confidential - Gregory Isaacs (2000)
- Private Conversation - Lyle Lovett (1997)
- Private Dancer - Tina Turner (1985)
- Private Eyes - Hall and Oates (1981)
- Private Look at Forty, A - Jimmy Buffett (1975)
- Private Number - William Bell and Judy Clay (1968)
- Private Property - Full Circle (2007)
- Private Storm - Sam Phillips (1991)
- Those Private Eyes Keep Watchin' Me - Chubby Checker (1960)
- Best Kept Secret, The - Jerry Douglas (2005)
- Deep Dark Secret - Farm Dogs (1998)
- Do You Want to Know a Secret? - The Beatles (1964)
- Eyes, Don't Give My Secrets Away - Jerry Wallace (1961)
- Family Secrets - Rod Bernard (1999)
- Hard Secret to Keep, A - Mark Chesnutt (2004)
- I Can't Keep a Secret - Brian Hyland (1965)
- I Kept it a Secret - Charline Arthur (1953)
- I Know a Secret - Spike Jones (1950)
- I'll Follow My Secret Heart - Coleman Hawkins (1953)
- It is No Secret - Mark Collie (1994)
- It is No Secret What God Can Do - Stuart Hamblen (1951)
- It's No Secret - Kylie Minogue (1988)
- It's Our Secret - Donnie Bowser (1958)
- Keep it a Secret - Ronnie Dove (1965)
- Keeping Secrets - Christine McVie (1984)
- My Secret - Judy Lynn (1963)
- My Secret Life - Linda Hargrove (1973)
- No Secrets - Joe Dowell (1961)
- Open Secret - Ginger Baker and Jens Johansson (1992)
- Our Little Secret - Margie Singleton (1959)
- Our Secret - Molly Bee (1964)
- Our Secret Rendezvous - Curtis Gordon (1955)
- Personal Secret - Cathy Carr (1959)
- Secret, The - Tom Fogerty (1981)
- Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers (1966)
- Secret Family - Sara Hickman (1998)
- Secret Fascination - Atomictom (2007)
- Secret Garden - Bruce Springsteen (1997)
- Secret Gardens - Judy Collins (1973)
- Secret Heart - Raul Malo (2006)
- Secret Kisses - Frankie Carle Orchestra (1952)
- Secret Language - Cactus Brothers (1995)
- Secret Letter to a Lost Friend - My Early Mustang (2005)
- Secret Life of Plants, The - Stevie Wonder (1979)
- Secret Love - Peggy March (2005)
- Secret Me, The - Groovey Joe Poovey (1960)
- Secret Memories - The Compton Brothers (1974)
- Secret Obsession - Bob McCarroll (2003)
- Secret of the Dance - Ian Gillan Band (1979)
- Secret of the Summer Wind - Stu Phillips (1969)
- Secret of the Waterfall - The Country Gentlemen (1972)
- Secret of Your Heart - Dick Curless (1969)
- Secret Place - Robin Trower (1994)
- Secret Places - Hamilton Camp (1999)
- Secret Rendezvous - Karyn White (1988)
- Secretly - Jimmie Rodgers (1958)
- Secrets - Bobby Charles (1986)
- Secrets of My Heart - Hawkshaw Hawkins (1948)
- Shh, it's a Secret - Eben Brooks (2006)
- Sinful Secret - Ferlin Husky (1956)
- Temporary Secret - Gary Hirstius and Day Stevens (2003)
- Top Secret - The Newbeats (1967)
- Victoria's Secret - Ricky Lynn Gregg (2001)
- Your Little Secret - Melissa Etheridge (1995)
- Baby, What a Big Surprise - Chicago (1977)
- By Surprise - Peter, Paul, and Mary (1978)
- I'm Not Surprised - Betty Foley (1960)
- I'm Surprised at Me - Stoney Cooper (1968)
- Imagine My Surprise - Holly Near (1978)
- It'd Surprise You - Rosalie Allen (1952)
- Surprise Waltz - Jerry Byrd (1967)
- Sweet Surprise - Eric Andersen (1976)
- What a Surprise - The Crests (1961)
- You'd Be Surprised - Kathy Linden (1958)
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