Douglas Coupland Quotes
Sometimes I wonder if the world is too interesting and too boring at the same time.
Quotes to Explore
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The last time I had to make a career decision, I was 17. I could have gone to Ballet Theatre or National Ballet of Canada. There were options. But as I became exposed to the Robbins repertoire, I realized that there was a living genius in the house.
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If people would dare to speak to one another unreservedly, there would be a good deal less sorrow in the world a hundred years hence.
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It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity.
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Most people don't really like to pose. It is difficult to get them to be present and relaxed under this kind of molecular scrutiny. I want them to understand I'm not simply painting them: I am painting them within a precise moment in time, as a shadow moves across their eyebrows. Then it is gone. The moment is over.
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Some people are instantly brilliant. The Kenneth Branaghs of this world are ready-formed actors at 23 - he has used his success in lots of different ways - but there are people out there for whom acting is: 'Ooh, I can get on the telly and be famous.'
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I'm the best in the world; thank you, Jesus, for that.
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We all wish to live. We all seek a world in which men are freed of the burdens of ignorance, poverty, hunger and disease. And we shall all be hard-pressed to escape the deadly rain of nuclear fall-out should catastrophe overtake us.
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I still think reading something like 'Ulysses' takes a tremendous investment of time, but it repays all of it with so much interest.
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Being right half the time beats being half-right all the time.
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Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.
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I don't tend to set out on huge world domination goals or have anything in mind. I just like to play. I like to gig a lot; I like to write music.
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Literary dementia seems dated now, but there was a time when a month in the funny farm was as de rigueur for budding writers as an M.F.A. is now. To be sent away was a badge of honor; to undergo electroshock, a glorious martyrdom.
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What we now call the browser is whatever defines the web. What fits in the browser is the World Wide Web and a number of trivial standards to handle that so that the content comes.
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I time everything. I'm a scientist at heart.
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The only time a friend has ever helped me in the industry was how I got my first job - that was through Mike Figgis.
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I've had hundreds of requests from journalists all over the world asking me to speak about Leicester, which is astonishing. It's captured the imagination.
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You gotta be really careful what you bite off. Don't bite off more than you can chew. It's a dangerous world.
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I have two daughters: One an open book, one a locked box. So the question of privacy is a challenging one. How much do kids need? How much should we give? How do we prepare them to live in a world where the very notion of privacy opens a generational chasm?
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'The Silver Shoes,' said the Good Witch, 'have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.'
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I've always liked the effect of having somebody in there who hadn't the faintest idea what was going on.
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I have an unfortunate personality.
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I think a lot of people in their average day actually imagine two sides of a conversation at one point or another. I think that the mental trick of holding two sides of a conversation in your head is actually something that we all do.
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I've never been happy doing stock work; I've never been happy thinking that I haven't changed something.
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Sometimes I wonder if the world is too interesting and too boring at the same time.
