Charles Bukowski: Trending quotes (page 20)

“Some people have written that my writing has helped them go on.
It has helped me too. The writing, the roses, the 9 cats.”

“not writing is not good but trying to write when you can't is worse.”

“Everything you own must be able to fit inside one suitcase; then your mind might be free.”

“I got up and walked back to my roominghouse. The moonlight was bright. My footsteps echoed in the empty street and it sounded as if somebody was following me, I looked around. I was mistaken. I was quite alone.”

“as the shadows assume
shapes
I fight the slow
retreat

now
my once-promise
dwindling
dwindling

now
lighting new cigarettes
pouring more
drinks

it has been a beautiful
fight

still
is.”

“People just weren't interesting. Maybe they weren't supposed to be. But animals, birds, even insects were. I couldn't understand it.”

“I like the way Mahler wandered about in his music and still retained his
passion. He must have looked like an
earthquake walking down the street.”

“human relationships simply aren't
durable.
I think back to the women in
my life.
they seem non-existent.”

“bad writing's like bad women: there's just not much you can do about it”

“too often, the only escape is sleep”

“I was glad I wasn’t in love, that I wasn’t happy with the world. I like being at odds with everything. People in love often become edgy, dangerous. They lose their sense of perspective.”

“A woman must be nursed into subsistence by love, where a man can become stronger by being hated." - from 'Cows in Art Class”

“Let' em learn or let' em die”

“our bones
like stems into the sky
will forever cry
victory”

“I never pump up my vulgarity. I wait for it to arrive in its own terms.”

“All a guy needed was a chance. Somebody was alway controlling who got a chance and who didn't.”

“I was getting depressed. My life wasn't going anywhere. I needed something, the flashing of lights, glamour, some damn thing. And here I was, talking to the dead. I finished my first drink. The second was ready.”

“There still might be a place for us somewhere.”

“There is always somebody about to ruin your day, if not your life.”