思ったより (more than expected).

My new favorite phrase is 思ったより (omotta yori), "more than one (had) thought/expected". (Just came across it on Duolingo, which I frequent for a bunch of languages, although I started for and still practice Japanese, and which I recommend, not least for its item-specific discussion spaces.) It's a simple thing, but I haven't come across it before, at least in studies, and it's a concise and elegant way of expressing that surprise. Feels lighter than, as in English, having to inflect the what as a comparative; you can just add the phrase to whatever the situation is. 思ったより面白いです。"It's more interesting than I'd expected." 思ったより高かったよ. "Dude, I didn't think it would cost that much."* 思うよりも役に立つだろうね。

*In more exact/"correct" English, 思ったより高い, I didn't think it would cost this much; 思ったより高かった, I hadn't thought it would cost that much.