Douglas Coupland Quotes
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The modern economy isn't about the redistribution of wealth, it's about the redistribution of time.
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Nobody likes being told who or what they are.
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Storytelling is ultimately a creative act of pattern recognition. Through characters, plot and setting, a writer creates places where previously invisible truths become visible. Or the storyteller posits a series of dots that the reader can connect.
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I know it's not cat food, but what exactly is it that they put inside of tinned ravioli?
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At what point in our lives do we stop blurring? When do we become crisp individuals? What must we do in order to end these fuzzy identities - to clarify just who it is we really are?
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Making eye contact with adults while dressed as a clown is risky.
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Bespoke tailoring: yes! I found this one pair of pants - they're Canali - and brought them into a tailor and said, 'Clone these, dammit.' They just do all the right things. I've got eight pairs in different colors and I never have to think about pants again. The only look otherwise that suits me is, like, the Professor from 'Gilligan's Island.'
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We barely have enough time to figure out who we are and then we become bitter and isolated as we age.
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If nothing else, we simply get used to being alive.
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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 a 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.
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On TV people look at your hair and then they look at your skin, and then they look at your clothes, and by the time they're listening to what you're saying, you're off the screen.
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All events became omens; I lost the ability to take anything literally.
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I was so beautiful when I was young. And I took so few photos because I felt so skinny and ugly. I wish I'd just taken a few more shots.
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I had a lot of really terrible advice early in my writing career and I cheesed off people without even knowing it, all the while thinking I was implementing good advice.
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Historical Overdosing: to live in a period of time when too much seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news broadcasts.
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Everyone should have a tailor. David Wilkes, the guy who does my stuff, is like, 'Well you're a writer - do you want a special pen compartment or something?' Bespoke: That's the term you want to get out there.
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Aliens didn't come down to Earth and give us technology. We invented it ourselves. Therefore it can never be alienating; it can only be an expression of our humanity.
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Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.
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There's nothing cure or funny or lovable about being cheap. It's a total turn-off.
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Where does personality end and brain damage begin?
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Lottery tickets are a surtax on desperation.
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I find it hard to believe that human beings are the crowning achievement of life on earth. Something better than us has to come along.
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We were never supposed to live until 40. We were built to self-destruct at 30, whether from cancer or mental illness. We're all going way beyond our expiration date.
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TV didn't kill radio, it just added something new to the mix.