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Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland Quotes

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Famous Douglas Coupland 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
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“I am reminded that no matter how hard you try, you can never be more than twelve years old with your parents. Parents earnestly try not to inflame, but their comments contain no scale and a strange focus. Discussing your private life with parents is like misguidedly looking at a zit in a car's rearview mirror and being convinced, in the absence of contrast or context, that you have developed combined heat rash and skin cancer.”

TryingYearsMatterHardParentFocusCarStrangeSkinsMirrorsCancerConvincedAbsenceScalesHeatCommentContrastTwelvePrivate LifeDiscussingRearview MirrorZitsSkin Cancer
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“A few years ago it dawned on me that everybody past a certain age ... pretty much constantly dreams of being able to escape from their lives. They don't want to be who they are any more. They want out. This list includes Thurston Howell the Third, Ann-Margret, the cat members of Rent, Václav Havel, space shuttle astronauts and Snuffleupagus. It's universal.”

WantYearsDreamAgeAblePastCertainSpaceMembersYears AgoCatThirdsUniversalListsAstronautSpace Shuttle
Book:The Gum Thief: A Novel
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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 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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“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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“If I've learned anything in twenty-nine years, it's that every human being you see in the course of a day has a problem that's sucking up at least 70 percent of his or her radar. My gift - bad choice of words - is that I can look at you, him, her, them, whoever, and tell right away what is keeping them awake at night: money; feelings of insignificance; overwhelming boredom; evil children; job troubles; or perhaps death, in one of its many costumes, perched in the wings. What surprises me about humanity is that in the end such a narrow range of plights defines our moral lives.”

IfsYearsHumansLooksChildrenI CanEndsFeelingsProblemJobsNightHumanityChoicesCoursesEvilHuman BeingsMoralTroublePercentTwentiesWingsSurpriseNineRangeAwakeBoredomI've LearnedOverwhelmingCostumesRadarNine YearsSurprise MePlightInsignificanceBad ChoicesAwake At NightMoral Life
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“Once he entered my life, I promptly forgot all my years of putting on a brave face while browsing at bookstores until closing time, and of having one, two, three beers while watching crime shows and CNN. I completely forgot the hateful sensation of loneliness, like thirst and hunger together pressing on my stomach.”

YearsTwoShowsTogetherFacesThreeCrimeLonelinessBraveHungerBeerSensationsStomachThirstClosingHatefulBookstoresCnnBrowsingPressing OnBrave FaceClosing Time
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“Imagine you're a forty-year-old, Richard," Hamilton said to me around this time, while working as a salesman at a Radio Shack in Lynn Valley,"and suddenly somebody comes up to you saying, 'Hi, I'd like you to meet Kevin. Kevin is eighteen and will be making all of your career decisions for you.' I'd be flipped out. Wouldn't you? But that's what life is all about - some eighteen-year-old kid making your big decisions for you that stick for a lifetime." He shuddered.”

YearsSaidBigsKidsLife IsDecisionCareersImagineLike YouSticksLifetimeCome UpRadioFortyValleysUp To YouEighteenSalesmanKevinHamiltonFlippedShackBig DecisionsEighteen Years OldForty Years OldSaying Hi
Author:Douglas Coupland
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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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“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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