Will Ferguson > Quotes

“The two most important phrases in the human language are "If only" and "Maybe someday". Our past mistakes and our unrequited longings. The things we regret and the things we yearn for. That's what makes us who we are.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“Many Canadian nationalists harbour the bizarre fear that should we ever reject royalty, we would instantly mutate into Americans, as though the Canadian sense of self is so frail and delicate a bud, that the only thing stopping it from being swallowed whole by the US is an English lady in a funny hat.”
― Will Ferguson

“You, I love.”
― Will Ferguson, 419

“Obviously, he needed to kill Bubba, but how? The man was a trained prison guard twice his size. The tax auditors had been easy. Mr. Ethics had slapped them to death with their own attaché cases. And even then, his neighbours had chipped in to help him hide the bodies. "A tax auditor, you say? No problem. Let me get my spade.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“As a parent, my fear is that when we die, we'll have to watch all those moments in our lives when we were short tempered with our children, all the times they needed our love and we didn't give it, all those times we were distracted or in a bad mood, and all the times we were angry or impatient. My fear is that when the time comes, I'll have to watch all those moments again. That they'll make us watch them before we can get into Heaven”
― Will Ferguson , 419

“Human nature, at its best, had always been based on a deep heroic restlessness, on wanting something--something else, something more, whether it be true love or a glimpse just beyond the horizon. It was the promise of happiness, not the attainment of it, that had driven the entire engine, the folly and glory of who we are.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“The great themes of Canadian history are as follows: Keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear.”
― Will Ferguson

“...the most important aspects of someone’s life are the very things not listed in an index.' There were never entries for “memory,” or 'regrets,' or even 'love,' in the lowercase. It was always 'Education (post-secondary)' or 'Awards (see also: Best Debut R&B Country CD by a Female Artist, Solo).' Indexes never seemed to get to the heart of the matter. There was never a heading for hope or fear. Or dreams, recalled. Smiles, remem­ bered. Anger. Beauty. Or even images that lingered, glimpses of something that had made an impression. A doorway. A window. A reflection on glass. The smell of rain. Never any of that. Just a tally of proper nouns and famous names. And why only one life? Why not the web of other lives that define us? What of their indexes, their moments?”
― Will Ferguson, 419

“Despair comes slowly, crawling its way up inside you until it threatens to overwhelm everything; it buckles the knees, makes you falter, makes you break your stride. In those moments she would will herself forward until despair was replaced by something stronger.”
― Will Ferguson, 419

“You ever want to negotiate a hostage situation in Quebec, I'm your man. Send me in for a little parley and the francophone miscreants will flee, hands over bleeding ears.”
― Will Ferguson, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada

“People don't listen to karaoke, they endure it until it is their turn. It is the singularly most self-indulgent form of entertainment available.”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

“Hellraisers destroy only themselves, and they do it because they love life too much to fall asleep.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“As a parent? My fear is that when we die, we'll have to watch all those moments in our lives when we were short-tempered with our children, all the times they needed our love and and we didn't give it, all those times we were distracted, or in a bad mood, all the times we were angry or impatient.”
― Will Ferguson, School Bus Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

“...when you are constantly prevailing upon the kindness of strangers-as a hitchhiker must-it keeps you in a positive frame of mind. Call it Zen and the Art of Hitchhiking. The Way of the Lift. The chrysanthemum and the Thumb. Heady on beer and the sound of my own voice, the aphorisms spilled out unchecked.”
― Will Ferguson, Hitching Rides with Buddha

“Deferring judgement to a later date resolves nothing and all you are left with is a box of jumbled slides and a collection of knick-knacks and odds and ends. Here a face. There a sunset.”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

“The human memory is a salamander; it squiggles from point to point, slaloms its way improbably up walls and across ceilings.”
― Will Ferguson, 419

“There, stacked high on his desk, was a tower of paper. Thick slabs of manuscript. Slush. Unsolicited, unagented, unloved. This was where dreams came to die. Book proposals, cover letters, entire manuscripts – they gathered like so much detritus on the desks of publishers everywhere.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“What?"
"I said, Are you dangerous?"
I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. "Who? me? No, I'm not dangerous at all."
"You promise?"
"Sure."
"All right, then," she said. "You can get in."
And that was how I met the unsinkable, irrepressible, wholly undeniable Kikumi Otsugi, a woman who believed in bad men, but not bad dishonest men. I had given her my word of honor that I would not harm her, and she was satisfied.”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

“More polar bears live in Canada than in the rest of the world combined, which raises the question, Why the hell did we choose the beaver as our national emblem? We could have had Nanuk of the North, Lord of the Arctic, as our symbol. Instead we got stuck with Squirrelly McTeeth. Sheesh.”
― Will Ferguson, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada

“Fear of death and the desire to live on, somehow, if only through our children. Or our grandchildren. Quixotic quest for immortality. It's sad and heroic and doomed - all at the same time.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“You know, kid, ethics isn't about choosing between right and wrong; it's about choosing between grey and grey. It's about choosing between two equally desirable but mutually exclusive courses of action. Freedom or security? Courage or comfort? Self-examination or blissful happiness? Column A or Column B?”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“(I speak Japanese the way a bear dances. It’s not that the bear dances well that impresses people, it’s the fact the bear dances at all.)”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

“Mentre parlavamo, i sakura vorticavano intorno alla cabina del telefono in un diluvio di bianco e rosa. Avevo passato più di un mese circondato da quei fiori, più di quanto sia possibile, più di quanto sia naturale. E improvvisamente capii, con profondo sconforto, che quello che stavo facendo era sbagliato alla radice. I sakura sono fatti per essere transitori. Aggrapparsi a loro è come tentare di aggrapparsi alla giovinezza. Seguire il Fronte dei Fiori di Ciliegio era una negazione del tempo, delle stagioni, persino della mortalità. Era come spruzzare lacca su un giglio. Come imbalsamare un miraggio. Come cercare di fermare il tempo.”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

“To charakterystyczna cecha cywilizacji: niechciane,niezamawiane marzenia”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“Cała nasza ekonomia opiera się na ludzkich słabostkach,na złych nawykach i lękach.Moda.Bary fast food.Elektroniczne gadżety.Erotyczne zabawki.Ośrodki dietetyczne.Ogłoszenia towarzyskie.Skrajne sekty religijne.Salony fryzjerskie.Kryzys wieku średniego u mężczyzn.Szał zakupów.Całe nasze życie zbudowane jest na wątpliwościach i braku satysfakcji.Pomyśl,co by się stało,gdyby ludzie byli naprawdę,szczerze szczęśliwi.Całkowicie zadowoleni ze swojego życia.Nastąpiłby kataklizm”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

“Memory is the hotel curtain that never completely closes. Memory always lets in just enough light to fill the room and ruin your sleep.”
― Will Ferguson, The Shoe on the Roof

“Storms without rain. Winds without water. She woke, and when she sat up, the dust fountained off her and the voice that accompanied her once again stirred, once again whispered, “Get up. Keep walking. Don’t stop.”
― Will Ferguson, 419

“There are no roads in British Columbia. There are only corners joined together. And nowhere is this truer than in Vancouver. In this city, pedestrians, even those within clearly marked crosswalks -- especially those within clearly marked crosswalks -- are viewed not as nuisances to be avoided but as obstacles to be overcome. Rising to the challenge, Vancouver drivers will attempt to weave through these pedestrians without knocking any over -- and, here's the fun part, without ever applying the brakes. Swoosh, swoosh: downtown slalom. Pedestrians, in turn, try to keep things interesting by crisscrossing the streets at random, like neutrons in a particle accelerator. They cross the street like this because, being from Vancouver, they naturally have a sense of entitlement. Either that or they're stoned.”
― Will Ferguson

“Hot Sushi mi lasciò vicino all'imbarco dei traghetti e mi diede un opuscolo del Pacific Island Club di Guam. "Ci sono anch'io nella foto" disse indicando un puntino appena riconoscibile. Se lui era stato ridotto a un pugno di pixel da un computer, il suo sorriso era ancora visibile, l'ultimo tratto a svanire, come il ghigno dello Stregatto. Salutai Abo, strinsi la mano sonnacchiosa di Say Ya, e diedi a Michelle uno di quegli imbarazzanti saluti mezzo abbraccio-mezzo stretta di mano così popolari tra i nordamericani. Quindi loro quattro s'infilarono in macchina e ripartirono alla ricerca dell'esperienza e di un eterno presente. Dio, come li invidiavo.”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

“Prima di arrivare in Giappone, avevo un rispetto tremendo per i giapponesi, però non mi piacevno un granché. Adesso, dopo cinque anni in questo paese irritante ed eccentrico, dopo aver viaggiato da un capo all'altro, dopo aver lavorato e vissuto e giocato con i giapponesi, dopo aver visto oltre gli stereotipi, dopo essermi confrontato con le loro ossessioni e le loro paure, le loro insicurezze e la loro arroganza, la loro gentilezza e le loro manie, dopo aver sperimentato in prima persona le numerose contraddizioni che sono il Giappone, ho scoperto di non rispettare più i giapponesi come prima, ma in compenso mi piacciono molto di più.”
― Will Ferguson, Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan