Bukowski Quotes
Quotes tagged as "bukowski"
Showing 1-30 of 158
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“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”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little bit more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidates who reminded them most of themselves. I had no interests. I had no interest in anything. I had no idea how I was going to escape. At least the others had some taste for life. They seemed to understand something that I didn't understand. Maybe I was lacking. It was possible. I often felt inferior. I just wanted to get away from them. But there was no place to go.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“some moments are nice, some are
nicer, some are even worth
writing
about.”
― War All the Time: Poems 1981 - 1984
nicer, some are even worth
writing
about.”
― War All the Time: Poems 1981 - 1984
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Oh, I don’t mean you’re handsome, not the way people think of handsome. Your face seems kind. But your eyes - they’re beautiful. They’re wild, crazy, like some animal peering out of a forest on fire.”
― Women
― Women
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“I wasn't a misanthrope and I wasn't a misogynist but I liked being alone. It felt good to sit alone in a small space and smoke and drink. I had always been good company for myself.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“I wasn’t lonely. I experienced no self-pity. I was just caught up in a life in which I could find no meaning.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Yes Yes
when God created love he didn't help most
when God created dogs He didn't help dogs
when God created plants that was average
when God created hate we had a standard utility
when God created me He created me
when God created the monkey He was asleep
when He created the giraffe He was drunk
when He created narcotics He was high
and when He created suicide He was low
when He created you lying in bed
He knew what He was doing
He was drunk and He was high
and He created the mountains and the sea and fire at the same time
He made some mistakes
but when He created you lying in bed
He came all over His Blessed Universe.”
―
when God created love he didn't help most
when God created dogs He didn't help dogs
when God created plants that was average
when God created hate we had a standard utility
when God created me He created me
when God created the monkey He was asleep
when He created the giraffe He was drunk
when He created narcotics He was high
and when He created suicide He was low
when He created you lying in bed
He knew what He was doing
He was drunk and He was high
and He created the mountains and the sea and fire at the same time
He made some mistakes
but when He created you lying in bed
He came all over His Blessed Universe.”
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“I didn't have any friends at school, didn't want any. I felt better being alone. I sat on a bench and watched the others play and they looked foolish to me.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.”
― Ham on Rye
― Ham on Rye
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“regret is mostly caused by not having
done anything.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
done anything.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“The area dividing the brain and the soul
Is affected in many ways by experience --
Some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
Some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
Some lose both and become:
accepted.”
―
Is affected in many ways by experience --
Some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
Some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
Some lose both and become:
accepted.”
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“What is your advice to young writers?”
“Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes.”
― Hot Water Music
“Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes.”
― Hot Water Music
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed. So I stayed in bed and drank. When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn’t have you by the throat.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“when we were kids
laying around the lawn
on our
bellies
we often talked
about
how
we'd like to
die
and
we all
agreed on the
same
thing;
we'd all
like to die
fucking
(although
none of us
had
done any
fucking)
and now
that
we are hardly
kids
any longer
we think more
about
how
not to
die
and
although
we're
ready
most of
us
would
prefer to
do it
alone
under the
sheets
now
that
most of
us
have fucked
our lives
away.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
laying around the lawn
on our
bellies
we often talked
about
how
we'd like to
die
and
we all
agreed on the
same
thing;
we'd all
like to die
fucking
(although
none of us
had
done any
fucking)
and now
that
we are hardly
kids
any longer
we think more
about
how
not to
die
and
although
we're
ready
most of
us
would
prefer to
do it
alone
under the
sheets
now
that
most of
us
have fucked
our lives
away.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“I have one problem, I don’t hate people. They disgust me and I want to get away from them. I do not have hatred. I have an escape mechanism.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“having nothing to struggle
against
they have nothing to struggle
for.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
against
they have nothing to struggle
for.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Beasts bounding through time.
Van Gogh writing his brother for paints
Hemingway testing his shotgun
Celine going broke as a doctor of medicine
the impossibility of being human
Villon expelled from Paris for being a thief
Faulkner drunk in the gutters of his town
the impossibility of being human
Burroughs killing his wife with a gun
Mailer stabbing his
the impossibility of being human
Maupassant going mad in a rowboat
Dostoevsky lined up against a wall to be shot
Crane off the back of a boat into the propeller
the impossibility
Sylvia with her head in the oven like a baked potato
Harry Crosby leaping into that Black Sun
Lorca murdered in the road by the Spanish troops
the impossibility
Artaud sitting on a madhouse bench
Chatterton drinking rat poison
Shakespeare a plagiarist
Beethoven with a horn stuck into his head against deafness
the impossibility the impossibility
Nietzsche gone totally mad
the impossibility of being human
all too human
this breathing
in and out
out and in
these punks
these cowards
these champions
these mad dogs of glory
moving this little bit of light toward
us
impossibly”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
Van Gogh writing his brother for paints
Hemingway testing his shotgun
Celine going broke as a doctor of medicine
the impossibility of being human
Villon expelled from Paris for being a thief
Faulkner drunk in the gutters of his town
the impossibility of being human
Burroughs killing his wife with a gun
Mailer stabbing his
the impossibility of being human
Maupassant going mad in a rowboat
Dostoevsky lined up against a wall to be shot
Crane off the back of a boat into the propeller
the impossibility
Sylvia with her head in the oven like a baked potato
Harry Crosby leaping into that Black Sun
Lorca murdered in the road by the Spanish troops
the impossibility
Artaud sitting on a madhouse bench
Chatterton drinking rat poison
Shakespeare a plagiarist
Beethoven with a horn stuck into his head against deafness
the impossibility the impossibility
Nietzsche gone totally mad
the impossibility of being human
all too human
this breathing
in and out
out and in
these punks
these cowards
these champions
these mad dogs of glory
moving this little bit of light toward
us
impossibly”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“the worst thing," he told me,
"is bitterness, people end up so
bitter.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
"is bitterness, people end up so
bitter.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Like anybody can tell you, I am not a very nice man. I don't know the word. I have
always admired the villain, the outlaw, the son of a bitch. I don't like the clean-shaven
boy with the necktie and the good job. I like desperate men, men with broken teeth
and broken minds and broken ways. They interest me. They are full of surprises and
explosions. I also like vile women, drunk cursing bitches with loose stockings and
sloppy mascara faces. I'm more interested in perverts than saints. I can relax with
bums because I am a bum. I don't like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don't like to be
shaped by society.”
― South of No North
always admired the villain, the outlaw, the son of a bitch. I don't like the clean-shaven
boy with the necktie and the good job. I like desperate men, men with broken teeth
and broken minds and broken ways. They interest me. They are full of surprises and
explosions. I also like vile women, drunk cursing bitches with loose stockings and
sloppy mascara faces. I'm more interested in perverts than saints. I can relax with
bums because I am a bum. I don't like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don't like to be
shaped by society.”
― South of No North
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“girls
please give your
bodies and your
lives
to
the young men
who
deserve them
besides
there is
no way
I would welcome
the
intolerable
dull
senseless hell
you would bring
me
and
I wish you
luck
in bed
and
out
but not
in
mine
thank
you.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
please give your
bodies and your
lives
to
the young men
who
deserve them
besides
there is
no way
I would welcome
the
intolerable
dull
senseless hell
you would bring
me
and
I wish you
luck
in bed
and
out
but not
in
mine
thank
you.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“there's no clarity.
there was never meant to be clarity.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
there was never meant to be clarity.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“darkness falls upon Humanity
and faces become terrible
things
that wanted more than there
was.
all our days are marked with
unexpected
affronts - some
disastrous, others
less so
but the process is
wearing and
continuous.
attrition rules.
most give
way
leaving
empty spaces
where people should
be.
and now
as we ready to self-destruct
there is very little left to
kill
which makes the tragedy
less and more
much much
more.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
and faces become terrible
things
that wanted more than there
was.
all our days are marked with
unexpected
affronts - some
disastrous, others
less so
but the process is
wearing and
continuous.
attrition rules.
most give
way
leaving
empty spaces
where people should
be.
and now
as we ready to self-destruct
there is very little left to
kill
which makes the tragedy
less and more
much much
more.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Basically, that's why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself.”
―
―
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“sometimes when everything seems at
its worst
when all conspires
and gnaws
and the hours, days, weeks
years
seem wasted –
stretched there upon my bed
in the dark
looking upward at the ceiling
i get what many will consider an
obnoxious thought:
it’s still nice to be
Bukowski.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
its worst
when all conspires
and gnaws
and the hours, days, weeks
years
seem wasted –
stretched there upon my bed
in the dark
looking upward at the ceiling
i get what many will consider an
obnoxious thought:
it’s still nice to be
Bukowski.”
― You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
![Charles Bukowski](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1501509674i/13275._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“There is only one place to write and that is alone at a typewriter. The writer who has to go into the streets is a writer who does not know the streets. . . when you leave your typewriter you leave your machine gun and the rats come pouring through.”
― Notes of a Dirty Old Man
― Notes of a Dirty Old Man
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