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Life After God

Book by Douglas Coupland · 7 quotes · Feels, Thinking, People

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Life After God Quotes

“Sometimes I think the people to feel the saddest for are people who are unable to connect with the profound—people such as my boring brother-in-law, a hearty type so concerned with normality and fitting in that he eliminates any possibility of uniqueness for himself and his own personality. I wonder if some day, when he is older, he will wake up and the deeper part of him will realize that he has never allowed himself to truly exist, and he will cry with regret and shame and grief.”

PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsSometimesLawRealizingGriefWonderCryPossibilityBrotherRegretTypePersonalityConcernedWake UpShameProfoundBoringDeeperUniquenessIn-lawsFittingSaddestNormalityHeartyBrother In Law
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“I thought about how odd it is for billions of people to be alive, yet not one of them is really quite sure of what makes people people. The only activities I could think of that humans do that have no animal equivalent were smoking, body-building and writing. That's not much, considering how special we seem to think we are.”

PeopleThinkingWritingHumansBodySeemsAnimalAliveSpecialBuildingActivityBillionsOddSmokingConsideringBody Building
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“Time, Baby - so much, so much time left until the end of my life - sometimes I go crazy at how slowly time passes yet how quickly my body ages. But I shouldn't allow myself to think like this. I have to remind myself that time only frightens me when I think of having to spend it alone. Sometimes I scare myself with how many of my thoughts revolve around making me feel better about sleeping alone in a room.”

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“I think it takes an amazing amount of energy to convince oneself that the Forever Person isn't just around the corner. In the end I believe we never do convince ourselves. I know that I found it increasingly hard to maintain the pose of emotional self-sufficiency lying on my bed and sitting at my desk, watching the gulls cartwheeling in the clouds over the bridges, cradling myself in my own arms, breathing warm chocolate-and-vodka breath on a rose I had found on a street corner, trying to force it to bloom.”

ThinkingKnowsTryingBelievePersonsEndsSelfHardLyingFoundEnergyForceI BelieveMy OwnForeverStreetsEmotionalArmsAmountBedSittingBreathsRoseCloudsOneselfCornersWarmBreathingBridgesConvinceChocolateDesksAround The CornerSelf SufficiencySufficiencyVodkaStreet CornersGulls
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“But I guess the nice thing about driving a car is that the physical act of driving itself occupies a good chunk of brain cells that otherwise would be giving you trouble overloading your thinking. New scenery continually erases what came before; memory is lost, shuffled, relabeled and forgotten. Gum is chewed; buttons are pushed; windows are lowered and opened. A fast moving car is the only place where you're legally allowed to not deal with your problems. It's enforced meditation and this is good.”

ThinkingGivingProblemWould BeMovingLostMemoriesDealsBrainNiceMeditationTroubleCarWindowForgottenDrivingCellsButtonsEraseNice ThingsSceneryChunksGumBrain Cells
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“And then sometimes I think the people to feel saddest for are people who once knew what profoundness was, but who lost or became numb to the sensation of wonder – people who closed the doors that leads us into the secret world – or who had the doors closed for them by time and neglect and decisions made in times of weakness.”

PeopleThinkingWorldFeelsMadeSometimesLostDecisionSecretWonderDoorsWeaknessNeglectSensationsNumbSaddestDecisions Made
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“I am a quiet man. I tend to think things through and try not to say too much. But here I am, saying perhaps too much. But there are these feelings inside me which need badly to escape, I guess. And this makes me feel relieved because one of my big concerns these past few years is that I've been losing my ability to feel things with the same intensity- the way I felt when I was younger. It's scary- to feel your emotions floating away and just not caring. I guess what's really scary is not caring about the loss.”

ThinkingMenWayNeedsFeelsTryingYearsFeelingsBigsPastFeltLossAbilityEmotionToo MuchQuietLosingConcernScaryCaringIntensityFloatingHere I AmRelievedNot CaringReally ScaryFloating AwayQuiet Man
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