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Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland Quotes

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Famous Douglas Coupland 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
Book:Life After God
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“When the world throws you too much information, the only way you can stay sane or survive is to look for pattern recognition. Amidst all the blurs, is there a constellation that emerges, is there a straight line that's emerging. I think as long as you keep your mind in the palce where you're actively looking for patterns, you may not be safe, but you're going to feel safe, I think.”

ThinkingWorldWayFeelsMindLooksMayLongLinesToo MuchInformationSafePatternsRecognitionSaneEmergingConstellationsStraight LinesBlurToo Much Information
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“One of my own stray childhood fears had been to wonder what a whale might feel like had it been born and bred in captivity, then released into the wild-into its ancestral sea-its limited world instantly blowing up when cast into the unknowable depths, seeing strange fish and tasting new waters, not even having a concept of depth, not knowing the language of any whale pods it might meet. It was my fear of a world that would expand suddenly, violently, and without rules or laws: bubbles and seaweed and storms and frightening volumes of dark blue that never end.”

WorldFeelsEndsMightLawLanguageWaterBornDarkMy OwnWonderKnowingSeeingSeaChildhoodStrangeConceptsBlueDepthCastsFishesStormBubblesFrighteningNot KnowingVolumeWhalesTastingCaptivitySeaweedBlowing UpDark Blue
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“...we're told by TV and Reader's Digest that a crisis will trigger massive personal change--and that those big changes will make the pain worthwhile. But from what he could see, big change almost never happens. People simply feel lost. They have no idea what to say or do or feel or think. they become messes and tend to remain messes.”

PeopleThinkingFeelsIdeasBigsHappensPainLostTvsReaderCrisisMessNo IdeaMassiveWorthwhileTriggersBig ChangesPersonal ChangeReader's Digest
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“Our conversations are never easy, but as I-we-get older, we are finding that our conversations must bespoken. A need burns inside us to share with others what we are feeling Beyond a certain age, sincerity ceases to feel pornographic. It is as though the coolness that marked out youth is itself a type of retrovirus that can only leave you feeling empty. Full of holes.”

NeedsFeelsFeelingsAgeCertainEasyShareYouthTypeConversationFindingsEmptyCeaseHolesSincerityCoolnessFeeling Empty
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“When you're young, you always feel that life hasn't yet begun—that "life" is always scheduled to begin next week, next month, next year, after the holidays—whenever. But then suddenly you're old and the scheduled life didn't arrive. You find yourself asking, 'Well then, exactly what was it I was having—that interlude—the scrambly madness—all that time I had before?”

FeelsYearsWellsYoungLife IsNextWeekMonthsMadnessAskingHolidayFinding YourselfNext YearNext Week
Book:Life After God
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“The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected; I have always considered the rain to be healing—a blanket—the comfort of a friend. Without at least some rain in any given day, or at least a cloud or two on the horizon, I feel overwhelmed by the information of sunlight and yearn for the vital, muffling gift of falling water.”

LifeFeelsMadeTwoFallGivenWaterHealingInformationComfortSafeRainCloudsHorizonProtectedSunlightOverwhelmedRichnessBlanketRain And SnowFalling Water
Book:Life After God
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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.”

ThinkingFeelsEndsSometimesBodyAgeLeftSleepRoomsCrazyBabyScareFeel BetterMy ThoughtsTime PassesTime LeftSleeping Alone
Book:Life After God
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“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
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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
Book:Life After God
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“My mood has changed now. And the sun has gone behind the clouds. I'm in this mood I feel occasionally... this mood where there's a very good friend nearby who I should be phoning. If only I could reach that friend and talk, then everything would be just fine. The dilemma is, of course, I just don't know who that friend is. But in my heart I know my mood is merely me feeling disconnected from my true inner self.”

IfsKnowsFeelsShouldHeartSelfFeelingsWould BeCoursesBehindsSunGoneChangedFineMy HeartVery GoodCloudsMoodGood FriendInner SelfDilemmaDisconnectedVery Good Friends
Book:Shampoo Planet
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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
Book:Life After God
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“You see, when you're middle class, you have to live with the fact that history will ignore you. You have to live with the fact that history can never champion your causes and that history will never feel sorry for you. It is the price that is paid for day-to-day comfort and silence. And because of this price, all happinesses are sterile; all sadnesses go unpitied.”

FeelsFactsCausesSilenceClassSadnessMiddleComfortPaidSorryChampionMiddle ClassDay To DayFeel Sorry For You
Author:Douglas Coupland
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