The things worth writing about, and the things worth reading about, are the things that feel almost beyond description at the start and are, because of that, frightening. – Douglas Coupland
Long lives aren’t natural. We forget that senior citizens are as much an invention as toasters or penicillin. – Douglas 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. – Douglas Coupland
Sometimes I wonder if the world is too interesting and too boring at the same time. – Douglas Coupland
A vast percentage of the human race is literally not wired neurologically to get irony. Well more than half of humanity takes life at face value, which is to me terrifying. – Douglas Coupland
What exactly is it that humans do that is specifically human? There has to be something. How odd it is for billions of people to be alive, yet not one of them is really quite sure of what makes people people. – Douglas Coupland
There are three things we cry about in life, things that are lost, things that are found, and things that are magnificent. – Douglas Coupland
Art was always my main focus; I fell into writing by accident in the 1980s, writing magazine articles to pay for my studio. I have to put myself into the position of writing; sometimes it doesn’t work, and sometimes it works great. – Douglas Coupland
I go to the gym three days a week. You have to or else – I don’t want to be the guy that dies shoveling snow. – Douglas Coupland
Earth was not built for six billion people all running around and being passionate about things. The world was built for about two million people foraging for roots and grubs. – Douglas 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. – Douglas Coupland
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. – Douglas Coupland
I think as a species we’re not designed to be able to think more than one year into the future – if that. Even trying to imagine one year from now makes most people feel like they’ve been given a huge boring chunk of homework that’s too hard to do. – Douglas Coupland
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. – Douglas Coupland
There’s nothing cure or funny or lovable about being cheap. It’s a total turn-off. – Douglas Coupland
Salad bars are like a restaurant’s lungs. They soak up the impurities and bacteria in the environment, leaving you with much cleaner air to enjoy. – Douglas Coupland
Comedy is the difference between how you see a person and how they see themselves. – Douglas Coupland
