Charles Bukowski: Doing

Charles Bukowski was American writer. Explore interesting quotes on doing.
Charles Bukowski: 1110 quotes288 likes

“the masses are everywhere
they know how to do things:
they have sane and deadly angers
for sane and deadly
things.”

Charles Bukowski book Love Is a Dog from Hell

Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell

“if you think they didn't go crazy
in tiny rooms just like you're doing now without women without food without hope then you're not ready.”

Charles Bukowski book Love Is a Dog from Hell

Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell

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

Charles Bukowski book Tales of Ordinary Madness

Source: Tales of Ordinary Madness

“Those who preach god, need god
Those who preach peace do not have peace
Those who preach love do not have love”

Charles Bukowski

Source: The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966

“Potential," I said, "doesn't mean a thing. You've got to do it. Almost every baby in a crib has more potential than I have.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Source: Women

“I found the best thing
I could do
was just to type away
at my own work
and let the dying
die
as they always have.”

Charles Bukowski

Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense

“magic persists without us
no matter what we may do to try to spoil it”

Charles Bukowski

Source: The Pleasures of the Damned

“Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Bach, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart. People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Women (1978)

“But I couldn't help thinking, god, all these mailmen do is drop in letters and get laid. This is the job for me, oh yes yes yes.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“… don't wait for the good woman. She doesn't exist. There are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls but these are the exact women who will turn the knife into you right in front of the crowd. Of course, I expect this, but the knife still cuts. The female loves to play man against man, and if she is in a position to do it there is not one who will not resist. The male, for all his bravado and exploration, is the loyal one, the one who generally feels love. The female is skilled at betrayal. and torture and damnation. Never envy a man his lady. Behind it all lays a living hell.”

Charles Bukowski

in a letter to Steven Richmond (Published in Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life by Howard Sounes)
Letters

“there were these people
on the ground,
they were reaching up their
arms and trying to pull me
down
but
they couldn't do
it.

I felt like pissing on
them.
they were so
jealous.
all they had to do was
to work their way
slowly up to it
as I had
done.

such people think
success grows on
trees.

you and I,
we know
better.”

Charles Bukowski

"transport"
The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992)

“I found out that Hollywood is more crooked, dumber, crueler, stupider than all the books I've read about it. They didn't go deeply enough into how it lacks art, and soul, and heart— how it's really a piece of crap. There are too many hands directing, there're too many fingers in the pot, and they're all kind of ignorant about what they're doing. They're greedy, and they're vicious. So you don't get much of a movie.”

Charles Bukowski

Interview included in the documentary Bukowski: Born Into This. Discussing the movie adaptation of Barfly and his novel Hollywood.
Interviews