Douglas Coupland Quotes
Why do most of us make such boring choices for the stories of our lives? How hard can it be to change gears and say, 'You know what? Instead of inventing and telling stories, I’m going to make my life a more interesting story.' (p. 177)
Quotes to Explore
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I learned how to read in second grade, and I entered a summer contest at my local library in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If you read more books than anybody else, you got your Polaroid up on the bulletin board, and I did.
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I know it's a lot harder for women who don't have enough help, but the truth is, no matter how much money you have, if you want to stay involved with your children and don't want to lose being a primary parent to them, you're still in the game.
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The history of the music industry is inevitably also the story of the development of technology. From the player piano to the vinyl disc, from reel-to-reel tape to the cassette, from the CD to the digital download, these formats and devices changed not only the way music was consumed, but the very way artists created it.
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Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. The best management of our time thus becomes linked inseparably with the best utilization of our efforts.
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You only lie to two people in your life, your girlfriend and the police.
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I've always been extremely physical. I was a gymnast for 15 years, and then I was a dancer for nine, so I was kind of looking for these parts. But we have a tendency in Denmark not to do many action films.
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I started playing piano when I was 6, ukulele at 7.
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I went to high school in New York City. So, I grew up in New Jersey my whole life, and I was watching all the people and all the kids that I met there become so jaded.
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Now, I was on drugs, and that didn't help a whole lot. He hated that. That was part of where Chet and I had problems, so I take complete blame for that.
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Don't worry about Yemen. Yemen started in peace, and it will end its revolution in peace, and it will start its new civil state with peace.
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I wouldn't do a film like 'The Dirty Picture.' I have a husband and kids, and I won't be able to do justice to such a role. You need a certain mentality and ease to carry such a character.
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It would be curious to discover who it is to whom one writes in a diary. Possibly to some mysterious personification of one's own identity.
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I don't get sick of 'MMMBop' in any way shape or form, and I don't know why I would.
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I have truly eclectic taste in music, and I seem to cycle through phases in terms of to what's inspiring me. I'll go from Beethoven to Sigur Ros; world music, Brit-pop, classic rock, blues/jazz, even the odd bit of heavy metal.
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Art historians agree that Da Vinci's paintings contain hidden levels of meaning that go well beneath the surface of the paint. Many scholars believe his work intentionally provides clues to a powerful secret... a secret that remains protected to this day by a clandestine brotherhood of which Da Vinci was a member.
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What ObamaCare did was take some of the things we did for the poor and expanded the government to basically the whole marketplace.
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There were definitely dark nights when you're like, 'Maybe joining the military wasn't such a good idea.' But, in a way, it was the best training to be an actor.
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I never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and was at the same time readable.
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'Years of Living Dangerously' is a wonderful opportunity to reach a lot of people with the story and importance of climate change in our lives; in recent history, there's no bigger threat to the quality of human life than what is taking place right now in respect of climate change.
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I do believe that there is a greater being that has brought me this far through life. Something or someone is on my side teaching me valuable lessons.
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It's an interesting thing to be in your forties and evaluate success and take ownership of some disasters and some pain and try to forgive a little bit - yourself and others.
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Life is what happens when we are busy doing other things. Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are and something you give away.
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Why do most of us make such boring choices for the stories of our lives? How hard can it be to change gears and say, 'You know what? Instead of inventing and telling stories, I’m going to make my life a more interesting story.' (p. 177)
