YOU'LL NEVER BE HAPPY WITH THE WORLD AGAIN.
This book will wreck your eyesight.
After reading it, scales will fall from your eyes and you'll see the world and culture in all its hideous disglory. You'll stand in front of the Mona Lisa and think: Shit. Not because it's bad, but because you'll finally see the circus around it for what it is: a godawful tourist trap and cultural pollution, disguised as our civilisation's highest achievement.
You'll look at Marvel blockbusters, beige SUVs, Times Square billboards, iPhone notches, and see them for what they are: excreta in excelsis. Our species, capable of the Sistine Chapel, is largely moronic and would cheerfully plaster Michelangelo's frescoes across plastic shower curtains, party paraphernalia, and two-ply loo paper.
Be warned: You'll never be happy with the world again.
But here's what you get in exchange for eternal unhappiness: eight specific creative habits that every legendary creative—from Einstein to Picasso, Churchill to Steve Jobs—has practiced monkishly. The disciplines that separate the forgettable from the unforgettable:
1. COURAGE: Grow a spine, not an excuse
2. IDEALISM: Stay starry-eyed in a rotten world
3. CURIOSITY: Wander like a wonder-drunk child
4. PLAYFULNESS: Treat serious things as toys
5. FREE-SPIRITEDNESS: Refuse to colour inside the lines
6. INTUITION: Trust your gut like a god
7. AUTHENTICITY: Be real in a hydrocarbon world
8. PERSISTENCE: Be tenacious as a mother bear
These aren't nice-to-haves. They're the difference between creative life and creative death.
You'll never be happy with the world again. But you might finally be happy with your work.
COWARDS DON'T GO TO HEAVEN
The Scribblings of A Lost Creative Soul Who Found Paradise
By Eugene Cheong
Illustrations by Simon Spilsbury
Flexibound
400 pages / 71 drawings
21.5cm × 24.4 cm
Spring 2026
Published by Victionary
ISBN: 978-988-70661-8-7
Shipping:
END MAY 2026
$40 USD / £30 GBP
What people are saying:
"Eugene has won more Gold Pencils than anyone in Asia Pacific, and somehow this book might be the most courageous thing he's ever made. It's not just worth reading. It's worth keeping close."
Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club For Creativity
"There is no book on creativity I'd recommend more—because this one actually makes you believe it's still worth the trouble. It's a masterclass disguised as a conversation—unique, fearless, and irresponsibly generous. Page after page, you get the sense that great work is still possible, and maybe even inevitable, if you're bold enough to ignore the nonsense and get to work."
Brian Collins, Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer, COLLINS
"From my first days at Ogilvy, years before I had even met Eugene, I always heard of him as one of the immortals. This book is a wonderful addition to a lifetime of magnificent work and breakthrough ideas."
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chair, Ogilvy London
"A raw, unfiltered manifesto for creative rebellion. A smack in the face of mediocrity. A survival guide for anyone who gives a damn about creativity."
David Droga, Vice Chair, Accenture
"A self-help book not for your meemaw. A combination of gut punches. And proof we'll never write as well as Eugene Cheong. Required reading for anyone with an appointment with Everest. Like my daughters.
Anselmo Ramos, Founder & Creative Chairman, GUT
“Eugene has written a classic. He’s written the Creative Bible.”
Simon Spilsbury, Illustrator, Cowards Don’t Go To Heaven