“Why do we embroider everything we say
with special emphasis
when all we really need to do
is simply say what
needs to he said?
Of course
the fact is
that there is very little that needs
to be said.”
Source: sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way: New Poems
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Charles Bukowski 555
American writer 1920–1994Related quotes

Rediff News, "Who is an Indian?", Available Online http://www.rediff.com/republic/2000/apr/06shashi.htm, April 6, 2000
2000s

Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami (March 9, 2016)

De Abaitua interview (1998)

“Why do we live? Most of us need the very thing we never ask for.”
Letter to Robert McAlmon (4 September 1943), published in The Selected Letters of William Carlos Williams (1957) edited by John C. Thirlwall, p. 217
General sources
Context: Why do we live? Most of us need the very thing we never ask for. We talk about revolution as if it was peanuts. What we need is some frank thinking and a few revolutions in our own guts; to hell with what most of the sons of bitches that I know and myself along with them if I don't take hold of myself and turn about when I need to — or go ahead further if that's the game.

On his stage performances, including acts where he would crawl and roll on broken glass.
Rolling Stone interview (2003)
Context: As society has changed, what had formerly been unacceptable has become colorful, even the broken-glass thing. Although, you know, there's an archetypal element to that anyway.... It's about the blood... The Christians used that riff with Christ. What did Christ really do? He hung out with hard-drinking fishermen. And when they asked him, "Why are you hanging out with prostitutes and fishermen?" he said, "Because they need me." What a line, you know? But what your martial society really wants is blood. We need some blood. We need some suffering. Like, the individual must suffer for the good of the whole. I toy around with that. Early on, I wasn't looking at Jesus Christ, saying to myself, "What an angle." I wasn't trying to be Christ-y. But, after all, on one level, this is showbiz.