"Nothing very very good and nothing very very bad ever lasts for very very long"
About this Quote
Coupland’s triple-stuttered “very very very” lands like a shrug that’s secretly a philosophy. It’s not just emphasis; it’s a mimicry of how we talk when we’re trying to convince ourselves of something we don’t fully believe. The line reads like self-soothing after a breakup, a market crash, a manic streak, a news cycle. By over-insisting on “very,” he exposes the childish part of adult life: we still reach for sing-song reassurance when reality won’t stay put.
The sentence offers a democratic view of time. Ecstasy and catastrophe get equal billing, then get demoted together. That symmetry is the point: Coupland isn’t selling optimism so much as deflating permanence itself. If nothing lasts, then neither your worst moment nor your best moment gets to be the final word. It’s comfort, but with a cool edge - because the same logic that promises relief also warns you not to build an identity on a high.
Context matters: Coupland’s work has long been preoccupied with late-20th-century acceleration - the feeling that culture updates faster than we can metabolize it. The quote fits a world of trend churn, disposable meaning, and emotional whiplash, where “very very good” is a dopamine spike and “very very bad” is a headline that fades by next week. The subtext isn’t “hang in there”; it’s “don’t mythologize the moment.” Time will move on, whether you’re ready or not, and that’s both mercy and menace.
The sentence offers a democratic view of time. Ecstasy and catastrophe get equal billing, then get demoted together. That symmetry is the point: Coupland isn’t selling optimism so much as deflating permanence itself. If nothing lasts, then neither your worst moment nor your best moment gets to be the final word. It’s comfort, but with a cool edge - because the same logic that promises relief also warns you not to build an identity on a high.
Context matters: Coupland’s work has long been preoccupied with late-20th-century acceleration - the feeling that culture updates faster than we can metabolize it. The quote fits a world of trend churn, disposable meaning, and emotional whiplash, where “very very good” is a dopamine spike and “very very bad” is a headline that fades by next week. The subtext isn’t “hang in there”; it’s “don’t mythologize the moment.” Time will move on, whether you’re ready or not, and that’s both mercy and menace.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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