Doug Coupland

Everybody past a certain age, regardless of how they look on the outside, pretty much constantly dreams of being able to escape from their lives.

age


Doug Coupland

The time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself.

alone


Doug Coupland

The capacity for not feeling lonely can carry a very real price, that of feeling nothing at all.

alone


Doug Coupland

Sometimes the best lighting of all is a power failure.

best


Doug Coupland

Handmade presents are scary because they reveal that you have too much free time.

birthday


Doug Coupland

Canadians can easily 'pass for American' as long as we don't accidentally use metric measurements or apologize when hit by a car.

car


Doug Coupland

If God drives a car, He'd drive a 1973 Ford LTD Brougham sedan with a claret-colored vinyl roof, with oxblood leather upholstery and an opera window.

car


Doug Coupland

If you don't change, then what's the point of anything happening to you?

change


Doug Coupland

Human beings are the only animal that thinks they change who they are simply by moving to a different place. Birds migrate, but it's not quite the same thing.

change


Doug Coupland

If human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.

courage


Doug Coupland

Workshops and seminars are basically financial speed dating for clueless people.

dating


Doug Coupland

We want our idols to be dead because it makes death a much less scary place.

death


Doug Coupland

Flying dreams mean that you're doing the right thing with your life.

dreams


Doug Coupland

Everybody past a certain age, regardless of how they look on the outside, pretty much constantly dreams of being able to escape from their lives.

dreams


Doug Coupland

High school is such a shared experience in North American culture.

experience


Doug Coupland

Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes, it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them.

failure


Doug Coupland

Sometimes failure isn't an opportunity in disguise, it's just you.

failure


Doug Coupland

Failure is authentic, and because it's authentic, it's real and genuine, and because of that, it's a pure state of being.

failure


Doug Coupland

If a building looks better under construction than it does when finished, then it's a failure.

failure


Doug Coupland

Sometimes the best lighting of all is a power failure.

failure


Doug Coupland

People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's families. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own.

family


Doug Coupland

It's very strange that most people don't care if their knowledge of their family history only goes back three generations.

family


Doug Coupland

Everybody has basically the same family, it's just reconfigured slightly differently from one to the next.

family


Doug Coupland

Forget about being world famous, it's hard enough just getting the automatic doors at the supermarket to acknowledge our existence.

famous


Doug Coupland

You pretend to be more eccentric than you actually are because you fear you are an interchangeable cog.

fear


Doug Coupland

I know it's not cat food, but what exactly is it that they put inside of tinned ravioli?

food


Doug Coupland

There's nothing cure or funny or lovable about being cheap. It's a total turn-off.

funny


Doug Coupland

In the future, torture will once again become the recreational sport of the rich.

future


Doug Coupland

I think that in the future, clocks won't say three o'clock anymore. They'll just get right to the point and rename three o'clock 'Pepsi.'

future


Doug Coupland

When future archaeologists dig up the remains of California, they're going to find all of those gyms their scary-looking gym equipment, and they're going to assume that we were a culture obsessed with torture.

future


Doug Coupland

It also allows you to look as though you're not particularly from the present, future or past, either.

future


Doug Coupland

The future and eternity are two entirely different things.

future


Doug Coupland

A bland smile is like a green light at an intersection, it feels good when you get one, but you forget it the moment you're past it.

good


Doug Coupland

If you don't have a spiritual practice in place when times are good, you can't expect to suddenly develop one during a moment of crisis.

good


Doug Coupland

Unhappiness is something we are never taught about we are taught to expect happiness, but never a Plan B to use to use when the happiness doesn't arrive.

happiness


Doug Coupland

It's very strange that most people don't care if their knowledge of their family history only goes back three generations.

history


Doug Coupland

We live in an era with no historical precedents. History is no longer useful as a tool in helping us understand current changes.

history


Doug Coupland

If someone decides to be a musician now, it means because there is no hope of money at the end of it, it means they really want to be a musician. And if someone is writing now, there is no hope for money at the end of it.

hope


Doug Coupland

It's very strange that most people don't care if their knowledge of their family history only goes back three generations.

knowledge


Doug Coupland

Depression is when you have lots of love, but no one's taking.

love


Doug Coupland

People will always choose more money over more sex.

money


Doug Coupland

If someone decides to be a musician now, it means because there is no hope of money at the end of it, it means they really want to be a musician. And if someone is writing now, there is no hope for money at the end of it.

money


Doug Coupland

I think money is due for some sort of collapse. People are going to realize that money has a half-life, like radioactive elements.

money


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