Quotessence
Home / Books / Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

Book by Douglas Coupland · 18 quotes · Wonder, Ifs, Littles

Filter quotes by topic

AllWonderIfsLittlesMomentsWhiteYearsAbandonAbandonmentAcceptedAcidAffectionBellsBornBotherBreakdownBrief MomentsCafesCamerasCaringCollapse

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture Quotes

“Back in the late 1970's, when I was fifteen years old, I spent every penny I then had in the bank to fly across the continent in a 747 jet to Brandon, Manitoba, deep in the Canadian prairies, to witness a total eclipse of the sun.”

YearsSunLateWitnessContinentsFifteenPenniesJetEclipseFifteen YearsPrairieFifteen Years OldTotal EclipseEclipse Of The Sun
Book:Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Create image

“MID-TWENTIES BREAKDOWN: A period of mental collapse occurring in one's twenties, often caused by an inability to function outside of school or structured environments coupled with a realization of one's essential aloneness in the world. Often marks induction into the ritual of pharmaceutical usage.”

WorldSchoolEnvironmentPeriodsEssentialsFunctionMarkTwentiesRealizationRitualCollapseInabilityBreakdownUsagePharmaceutical
Book:Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Create image

“When you see such photos, you can't help but wonder at just how sweet and sad and innocent all moments of life are rendered by the tripping of a camera's shutter, for at that point the future is still unknown and has yet to hurt us, and also for that brief moment, our poses are accepted as honest.”

StillsMomentsHelpingHurtWonderHonestSweetCamerasAcceptedInnocentShuttersMoments Of LifeBrief MomentsTripping
Book:Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Create image

“You know, I really think that when God puts together families, he sticks his finger into the white pages and selects a group of people at random and then says to them all, 'Hey! You're going to spend the next seventy years together, even though you have nothing in common and don't even like each other. And, should you not feel yourself caring about any of this group of strangers, even for a second, you will just feel dreadful”

PeopleThinkingKnowsFeelsShouldYearsTogetherNextWhiteCommonGroupsPagesSticksFingersStrangerCaringHeySeventiesHey YouYears Together
Book:Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Create image

“Anti-sabbatical: A job taken with the sole intention of staying only for a limited period of time (often one year). The intention is usually to raise enough funds to partake in another, more personally meaningful activity such as watercolor sketching in Crete or designing computer knit sweaters in Hong Kong. Employers are rarely informed of intentions”

Work
Book:Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Create image

“You know, Dag and Claire smile a lot, as do many people I know. But I always wondered if there is something either mechanical or malignant to their smiles, for the way they keep their outer lips propped up seems a bit, not false, but protective. A minor realization hits me as I sit with the two of them. It is the realisation that the smiles that they wear in their daily lives are the same as the smiles worn by people who have been good-naturedly fleeced, but fleeced nonetheless, in public and on a New York sidewalk by card sharks, and who are unable because of social conventions to show their anger, who don't want to look like poor sports.”

NihilismRuined YouthHollowed
Book:Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Create image