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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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“maybe memories are like karaoke-where you realize up on the stage, with all those lyrics scrawling across the screen's bottom, and with everybody clapping at you, that you didn't know even half the lyrics to your all-time favourite song. Only afterwards, when someone else is up on stage humiliating themselves amid the clapping and laughing, do you realize that what you liiked most about your favourite song was precisely your ignorance of its full meaning- and you read more into it than maybe existed in the first place. I think it's better to not know the lyrics to your life.”

ThinkingKnowsFirstsSongRealizingMemoriesHalfLaughingStageIgnoranceBottomScreensAll TimeFavouriteHumiliatingKaraokeClappingFavourite Songs
Book:The Gum Thief: A Novel
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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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“This was not a good idea coming home for Christmas. I'm too old. Years ago, coming back from schools or trips, I always expected some sort of new perspective or fresh insight about the family on returning. That doesn't happen anymore-the days of revelation about my parents, at least, are over... its time to move on. I think we'd all appreciate that.”

ThinkingYearsIdeasHomeHappensSchoolMovingParentPerspectiveYears AgoAppreciateInsightExpectedRevelationsComing HomeGood IdeasComing BackNew PerspectiveOld YearTime To Move OnHome For Christmas
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“I am going to give you a piece of advice... advice I wish I'd been told in guidance class back in high school, in between the don't-do-acid and don't-drink-and-drive films. I wish our counselors had told us, 'When you grow older a dreadful, horrible sensation will come over you. It's called loneliness, and you think you know what it is now, but you don't. Here is the list of the symptoms, and don't worry—loneliness is the most universal sensation on the planet. Just remember one fact—loneliness will pass. You will survive and you will be a better human for it.”

ThinkingKnowsGivingHumansFactsSchoolRememberFilmWishGrowsClassWorryPiecesAdviceLonelinessPlanetsDrinkHigh SchoolUniversalListsHorribleGuidanceOver YouSensationsSymptomsAcidCounselorYou Think You KnowDrink And DriveDon't Drink And Drive
Book:Shampoo Planet
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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
Book:Life After God
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“I think if human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween. Wouldn't life be more interesting that way? And now that I think about it, why the heck don't they? Who made the rule that everybody has to dress like sheep 364 days of the year? Think of all the people you'd meet if they were in costume every day. People would be so much easier to talk to - like talking to dogs.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWayYearsHumansMadeWould BeLife IsHuman BeingsInterestingTalkingDogEasierDressesGenuineSheepHalloweenCostumesDays Of The YearHalloween Greeting
Author:Douglas Coupland
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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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“Do you remember that old TV series, Get Smart? Do you remember at the beginning where Maxwell Smart is walking down the secret corridor and there are all of those doors that open sideways, and upside down and gateways and stuff? I think that everyone keeps a whole bunch of doors just like this between themselves and the world. But when you're in love, all of your doors are open, and all of their doors are open. And you roller-skate down your halls together.”

ThinkingWorldWholeTogetherRememberStuffSecretDoorsTvsWalkingSmartDown AndSeriesBunchHallsUpside DownSkatesCorridorsGatewaysSidewaysTv SeriesMaxwell
Author:Douglas Coupland
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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
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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“Do you think we enjoy hearing about your brand-new million-dollar home when we can barely afford to eat Kraft Dinner sandwiches in our own grimy little shoe boxes and we're pushing thirty? A home you won in a genetic lottery, I might add, sheerly by dint of your having been born at the right time in history? You'd last about ten minutes if you were my age these days.”

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Author:Douglas Coupland
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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
Book:Life After God
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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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“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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