Do you remember that old TV series, Get Smart? Do you remember at the beginning where Maxwell Smart is walking down the secret corridor and there are all of those doors that open sideways, and upside down and gateways and stuff? I think that everyone keeps a whole bunch of doors just like this between themselves and the world. But when you're in love, all of your doors are open, and all of their doors are open. And you roller-skate down your halls together.
Douglas CouplandWhen someone tells you theyโve just bought a house, they might as well tell you they no longer have a personality. You can immediately assume so many things: that theyโre locked into jobs they hate; that theyโre broke; that they spend every night watching videos; that theyโre fifteen pounds overweight; that they no longer listen to new ideas. Itโs profoundly depressing.
Douglas CouplandYou know, I really think that when God puts together families, he sticks his finger into the white pages and selects a group of people at random and then says to them all, 'Hey! You're going to spend the next seventy years together, even though you have nothing in common and don't even like each other. And, should you not feel yourself caring about any of this group of strangers, even for a second, you will just feel dreadful
Douglas CouplandA few years ago it dawned on me that 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 CouplandDeath without the possibility of ever changing the world is the same as a life that never was.
Douglas CouplandI am reminded that no matter how hard you try, you can never be more than twelve years old with your parents. Parents earnestly try not to inflame, but their comments contain no scale and a strange focus. Discussing your private life with parents is like misguidedly looking at a zit in a car's rearview mirror and being convinced, in the absence of contrast or context, that you have developed combined heat rash and skin cancer.
Douglas Coupland