Charles Bukowski, the iconic American poet and author, had a unique ability to capture the essence of the human experience through his words. His raw and unapologetic writing style resonates deeply with readers, exploring themes of love, loneliness, despair, and the gritty realities of life. With a collection of 150 Charles Bukowski quotes, readers are taken on a journey through the ups and downs of the human condition. From poignant observations about society to introspective musings on the self, Bukowski’s words have the power to evoke emotions and provoke thought. Each quote is a glimpse into the complexities of existence, reminding us of the beauty and pain that shape our lives.
Charles Bukowski Quotes
‘“We use such big words to move nowhere.”’
‘“Knowledge is knowing as little as possible.”’
‘“Food is good for the nerves and the spirit. Courage comes from the belly – all else is desperation.”’
‘“It’s hard to drink when you dance. And it’s hard to dance when you drink.”’
‘“There is no hurry. Time means nothing to you.”’
‘“I am for the small man who has not forgotten, for the man who loves his beer and his women and his sunlight.”’
‘“I had no Freedom. I had nothing.”’
‘“Most people are not ready for death, theirs or anybody elses.”’
‘“Love is a form of prejudice. You love what you need, you love what makes you feel good, you love what is convenient. How can you say you love one person when there are ten thousand people in the world that you would love more if you ever met them? But you’ll never meet them.”’
‘“It will rain all this night and we will sleep transfixed by the dark water as our blood runs through our fragile life.”’
‘“Our disappointment sits between us.”’
‘“The crazy ones only laugh when there is no reason to laugh.”’
‘“Style is the answer to everything. A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing.”’
‘“The writer has no responsibility other than to jack off in bed alone and write a good page.”’
‘“People in love often become edgy, dangerous. They lose their sense of perspective.”’
‘“The park grass looked greener, the park benches looked better and the flowers were trying harder.”’
‘“There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock. People so tired, mutilated either by love or no love.”’
‘“It’s nice enough to make a man weep, but I don’t weep, do you?”’
‘“That’s the way it ends. The thin edge of the wedge.”’
‘“Drinking is another way of thinking, another way of living. It gives you two lives instead of one.”’
‘“An early taste of death is not necessarily a bad thing.”’
‘“I often carry things to read so that I will not have to look at the people.”’
‘“Knowledge without follow-through is worse than no knowledge.”’
‘“There are only two things wrong with money: too much or too little.”’
‘“Capitalism has survived communism. Now, it eats away at itself.”’
‘“Long before I became ‘rich and famous’ I just sat round drinking wine and staring at the walls.”’
‘“Maybe when I get in the grave, things will be beautiful.”’
‘It’s better to do a dull thing with style than a dangerous thing without it.”’
‘“Death is nothing, brother, it’s life that’s hard.”’
‘“People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel or love.”’
‘“I give you soul. I give you wisdom and light and music and a bit of laughter. Also, I am the world’s greatest horseplayer.”’
‘“Insanity is relative. Who sets the norm?”’
‘ “A love like that was a serious illness, an illness from which you never entirely recover.”’
‘“I am this fiery snail crawling home.”’
‘“And don’t forget: time is meant to be wasted, love fails and death is useless.”’
‘“I wish to weep but sorrow is stupid. I wish to believe but belief is a graveyard.”’
‘“Trouble and pain were what kept a man alive. Or trying to avoid trouble and pain. It was a full time job.”’
‘“Most of the world was mad. And the part that wasn’t mad was angry. And the part that wasn’t mad or angry was just stupid. I had no chance. I had no choice. Just hang on and wait for the end. It was hard work. It was the hardest work imaginable.”’
‘“Sometimes I get too exhausted to even feel bad.”’
Charles Bukowski Sayings
‘“Keep your money in your pocket. Or bet it on a good horse.”’
‘“If you want to know where God is, ask a drunk.”’
‘“If there are junk yards in hell, love is the dog that guards the gates.”’
‘There is nothing as boring as the truth.”’
‘“I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.”’
‘“Once a woman turns against you, forget it. They can love you, then something turns in them. They can watch you dying in a gutter, run over by a car, and they’ll spit on you.”’
‘“Death meant little to me. It was the last joke in a series of bad jokes.”’
‘To be young is the only religion.”’
‘“The more crap you believe, the better off you are.”’
‘“I drive around the streets an inch away from weeping, ashamed of my sentimentality and possible love.”’
‘“Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others.”’
‘“When you clean up a city, you destroy it.”’
‘“It began as a mistake.”’
‘“In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.”’
‘“To not to have entirely wasted one’s life seems to be a worthy accomplishment, if only for myself.”’
‘“Long ago, among other lies they were taught that silence was bravery.”’
‘“For each Joan of Arc there is a Hitler perched at the other end of the teeter-totter.”’
‘“Love is a fog that burns with the first daylight of reality.”’
‘“Love came hard and very seldom. When it did it was usually for the wrong reasons.”’
‘“If it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it.”’
‘“It’s the order of things: each one gets a taste of honey then the knife.”’
‘“Slavery was never abolished, it was only extended to include all the colors.”’
‘“God is a lonely place without steak.”’
‘There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out.”’
‘“You can forgive a fool because he only runs in one direction and doesn’t deceive anybody. It’s the deceivers who make you feel bad.”’
‘“People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.”’
‘“Sometimes I feel as if we are all trapped in a movie. We know our lines, where to walk, how to act, only there is no camera. Yet, we can’t break out of the movie. And it’s a bad one.”’
‘“I don’t think I’ll travel anymore. Travel is nothing but an inconvenience. There is always enough trouble where you are.”’
‘“Humanity, you never had it to begin with.”’
‘“I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.”’
‘“Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit.”’
‘“There are times when those eyes inside your brain stare back at you.”’
‘“Lawyers, doctors, plumbers, they all made the money. Writers? Writers starved. Writers suicided. Writers went mad.”’
‘“When Ginsburg is at the top of his game you might as well put down your toys and listen.”’
‘“Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink.”’
‘“Look, let me put it this way: with me, you’re number one and there isn’t even a number two.”’
‘ “You were destroyed by what you befriended.”’
‘“There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out but I’m too tough for him, I say, stay in there, I’m not going to let anybody see you.”’
‘“It was better for me when I could imagine greatness in others, even if it wasn’t always there.”’
‘“A spark can set a whole forest on fire. Just a spark. Save it.”’
‘“My flesh looked like it wasn’t trying. It looked like it hated being part of me.”’
‘“I am ashamed to be a member of the human race but I don’t want to add any more to that shame, I want to scrape a little of it off.”’
‘“Before you kill something make sure you have something better to replace it with…”’
‘“That was all a man needed: hope. It was lack of hope that discouraged a man.”’
‘“One more drink and you’re dead. This is no way to talk to a suicide head.”’
‘“Writing is like going to bed with a beautiful woman and afterwards she gets up, goes to her purse and gives me a handful of money.”’
‘“Why did I come here? I thought. Why is it always only a matter of choosing between something bad and something worse?”’
‘ “There’s nothing unusual about love.”’
‘“I am a poem. There is no way out.”’
‘“The more cats you have, the longer you live. If you have a hundred cats, you’ll live ten times longer than if you have ten. Someday this will be discovered, and people will have a thousand cats and live forever.”’
‘“I just let it roll. Like a hot turd down a hill.”’
‘“The secret is writing down one simple line after another.”’
‘“It’s so easy to be easy – if you let it.”’
‘“Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.”’
‘“Careful poetry and careful people live only long enough to die safely.”’
‘“We are all museums of fear.”’
‘“There’s music in everything, even defeat.”’
‘“There is a place in the heart that will never be filled; a space. And even during the best moments, and the greatest times, we will know it.”’
‘“If I never see you again I will always carry you inside outside on my fingertips and at brain edges and in centers centers of what I am of what remains.”’
‘“Real loneliness is not necessarily limited to when you are alone.”’
‘“You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.”’
‘“Death is not the problem; waiting around for it is.”’
‘“I’ve had so many knives stuck into me, when they hand me a flower I can’t quite make out what it is. It takes time.”’
‘“If you’re losing your soul and you know it, then you’ve still got a soul left to lose.”’
‘“Let it die. Let there be a new beginning. It’s awful. Goodnight.”’
‘“It’s possible to love a human being if you don’t know them too well.”’
‘“There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out.”’
‘“I felt like crying but nothing came out. it was just a sort of sad sickness, sick sad, when you can’t feel any worse. I think you know it. I think everybody knows it now and then. but I think I have known it pretty often, too often.”’
‘“The courage it took to get out of bed each morning to face the same things over and over was enormous.”’
‘“The empty, the angry, the lonely, the tricked, we are all museums of fear.”’
‘“I am not a snob; it is simply that I am not interested with what most people have to say, or what they want to do – mostly with my time.”’
‘“Love breaks my bones and I laugh.”’
‘“Those who escape hell however never talk about it and nothing much bothers them after that.”’
‘“My heart is a thousand years old. I am not like other people.”’
‘“If you are going to try, go all the way or don’t even start. If you follow it you will be alive with the gods. It is the only good fight there is.”’
‘“The world is full of boring, identical and mindless people.”’
‘“Beware of those who seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone.”’
‘“Only the boring get bored.”’
‘“If you let them kill you, they will.”’
‘“If you’re going to try, go all the way. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe your mind.”’
‘“There’s a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness.”’
‘“You can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. And the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. Your life is your life. Know it while you have it.”’
‘“People empty me. I have to get away to refill.”’
‘“We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain.”’
‘“Don’t fight your demons. Your demons are here to teach you lessons. Sit down with your demons and have a drink and a chat and learn their names and talk about the burns on their fingers and scratches on their ankles. Some of them are very nice.”’
‘“Drink from the well of yourself and begin again.”’
‘“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.”’
‘“Nothing can save you except writing. It keeps the walls from failing.”’
‘“Invent yourself and then reinvent yourself.”’
‘“We are like roses that have never bothered to bloom when we should have bloomed and it is as if the sun has become disgusted with waiting.”’
‘“The less I needed, the better I felt.”’
‘“Wherever the crowd goes run in the other direction. They’re always wrong.”’
‘“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”’
‘“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”’
‘“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”’
‘“Without literature, life is hell.”’
‘“You have to die a few times before you can really live.”’
‘“Life’s as kind as you let it be.”’
‘“If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”’
‘“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”’
‘“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.”’
‘“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.”’
‘ “Find what you love and let it kill you.”’
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