Stephen Hillenburg Quotes

There was no way to predict that 'This is Us' was going to be what it is, that it would really resonate with people.

We knew all along we were making a good show, so its success was not a surprise to me. What has surprised me is the magnitude of this show's success. More people see me now in one episode than saw me in 20 years of movies and theater!

The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie was an unexpected, unplanned pop culture phenomena. My father went from star-maker to star.

What I didn't expect was 'VIP' becoming something of a cult and one of my biggest hits.

I've had projects before where everyone says 'This is going to be the big thing,' and it doesn't really turn out to be. Then there is a little project you do and forget about, and then it comes out, and it's huge.

The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.

No one was more surprised that that first Boston record took off than the record company itself.

In a way, I'm kind of a bystander looking at this phenomenon that is ABBA, which is still around, and that I thought would be finished in 1981 and forgotten. I'm amazed how this could happen, and I don't know why it happened. I'm just grateful and humble. I just sit back and enjoy.

The fact 'Twin Peaks' had a life at all took most of us in the cast by surprise. We thought it would be too unusual for network television. The original intention was that it would be a two-hour movie. If the network didn't want to pick it up as a series, it could just show that. But ABC took a chance.

For Nirvana, putting out their first major-label record was like getting into a new car. But the runaway success was like suddenly discovering that the car was a Ferrari and the accelerator pedal was Krazy Glued to the floorboard.

Little did we know it would be watched by millions of people and break viewing records.

You see that a handful of times every year where a person that hasn't been playing that well pops up and wins.

'Hee Haw' was a concept that nobody (including myself) thought would ever succeed.

People thought we were a joke because we got noticed so fast.

People always put me completely out of the game, and that's even nicer because nobody expects you to do a good job and then you do a better job than everybody thinks and it's nicer.

I still don't know how I became famous. It all happened so fast.

For some reason, the fans got behind me, and I don't know exactly why that is. I wasn't supposed to main event WrestleMania XXX, but the fans were so vocal about it that the fans had no choice but to put me in the match. I've had a lot of lucky breaks.

We thought 'Father Ted' was destined to be obscure late-night Channel 4 fodder and then it works and you don't really know why.

'The Falling' was a big, flashy, bizarre experience. I kept on saying at the time it was a fluke because I did the audition, and I didn't think anything would come of it.

I remember I was a dark horse at Miss Universe. No one saw Miss India coming from a mile and suddenly there she was!

With Ghost, I never really foresaw that it was going to take off the way it did.

Sometimes I write a song and I'm down with it but I'm like yeah, whatever, and then everybody loves it and then it blows up. I'm like: "Okay! I didn't see that coming."

I didn't think American Pie was going to be what it was! I had a very small role and the reception I received was just crazy.

It was never part of how I imagined my music, and I watched in awe at how this ukulele troubadour image suddenly devoured the Jens Lekman I had planned so carefully.

I never thought I would really like to be on television, and the story of me getting into it was quite lucky, really, just a series of chance encounters. So I am not exactly putting myself across as a celebrity, although people might perceive me that way.