Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life's cruelest irony.
Forget sex or politics or religion, loneliness is the subject that clears out a room.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Loneliness is a powerful and uncomfortable emotion that can drive people away, more so than controversial topics like sex or politics.
This quote by Douglas Coupland suggests that loneliness is a profound and pervasive feeling that has a unique ability to create distance between individuals. Unlike divisive subjects such as sex, politics, or religion, which can spark debate and discussion, the existence of loneliness tends to create an emotionally charged atmosphere that compels people to withdraw or disconnect, highlighting its intensity and the urgency of addressing such feelings.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about mental health awareness, one could reference this quote to highlight the importance of addressing feelings of loneliness.
More from Douglas Coupland
All quotes →...we're told by TV and Reader's Digest that a crisis will trigger massive personal change--and that those big changes will make the pain worthwhile. But from what he could see, big change almost never happens. People simply feel lost. They have no idea what to say or do or feel or think. they become messes and tend to remain messes.
When the world throws you too much information, the only way you can stay sane or survive is to look for pattern recognition. Amidst all the blurs, is there a constellation that emerges, is there a straight line that's emerging?
I'm not patient - and I'm getting more impatient as I get older - but I am disciplined about writing, and I want that on my tombstone: 'He wasn't patient, but he was disciplined.'
If you waste five minutes of time a day, over the course of a year that adds up to one full work day. Think of five wasted minutes as a slow-release holiday drug. Savour it.
When someone tells you they’ve just bought a house, they might as well tell you they no longer have a personality. You can immediately assume so many things: that they’re locked into jobs they hate; that they’re broke; that they spend every night watching videos; that they’re fifteen pounds overweight; that they no longer listen to new ideas. It’s profoundly depressing.
Similar quotes
He wanted her. He knew where to find her. He waited. It amused him to wait, because he knew that the waiting was unbearable to her. He knew that his absence bound her to him in a manner more complete and humiliating than his presence could enforce. He was giving her time to attempt an escape, in order to let her know her own helplessness when he chose to see her again.
Being trans, I've grown up with the understanding that most women are born girls, yet some are born boys. And most men are born boys, yet some are born girls. And if you're ready for this, some people are born girls or boys and choose to identify outside our society's binary system, making them genderqueer.
So much of politics is about people's relationships with themselves. You do better if you make people feel secure in who they are.
I was never honest. My father died, and I had never said to him, 'I'm gay.' I knew what I was, but I had to pretend not to be that to avoid the beatings.
You want to give me chocolate and flowers? That would be great. I love them both. I just don't want them out of guilt, and I don't want them if you're not going to give them to all the people who helped mother our children.
It's the quality of your relationships that matters.