Douglas Coupland

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

“I began doing writing projects and art and design projects to explore a new way of seeing Canada. Roots is one more way of continuing this exploration. I want to present a wide-open Canadian sense of color, adventure, communication and openness that defines our country.”

“Christmas makes everything twice as sad.”

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

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

“I think that to acknowledge a new generation is to acknowledge some degree of obsolescence in yourself, and that is very hard to do and often comes with undeniable anger.”

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

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

“Sometimes the best lighting of all is a power failure.”

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

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

“I was at Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver for four years, and I loved it.”

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

“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.”

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

“For many people, myself included, the end of the world is happening all the time! It is a form of criticality that paradoxically gives us hope for change and improvement.”

“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.”

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

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

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