“Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought.”

— Charles Bukowski , book Ham on Rye

Ham On Rye (1982)
Source: Ham on Rye
Context: And my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born. The only difference was that now I could drink now and then, though never often enough. Drink was the only thing that kept a man from feeling forever stunned and useless. Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought. God, they all had assholes and sexual organs and their mouths and their armpits. They shit and they chattered and they were dull as horse dung. The girls looked good from a distance, the sun shining through their dresses, their hair. But get up close and listen to their minds running out of their mouths, you felt like digging in under a hill and hiding out with a tommy-gun. I would certainly never be able to be happy, to get married, I could never have children. Hell, I couldn't even get a job as a dishwasher.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were rest…" by Charles Bukowski?

Charles Bukowski 555

American writer 1920–1994

Related quotes

“Ole man trouble
Go find you someone else to pick on.
I live my life now you see.
Ole man trouble,
Please stay away from me, now.Oh I look like I'm down in my luck.
Please send faith to help pick me up.
I've lived this way so many years
Ole man trouble,
Please wash away all my fears.”

Otis Redding (1941–1967) American singer, songwriter and record producer

Ole Man Trouble.
Song lyrics, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)

“I've always been pretty much a quiet person. When I was little, I got picked on a lot. After I went through all that, I pretty much kept to myself.”

Terrell Owens (1973) former American football wide receiver

Brian Murphy (January 8, 1999) "What A Great Catch 49ers Struck Gold By Picking Owens", The Press Democrat, p. C1.

“I used to care about how other people thought I led my life. But lately I've realized that most people are too preoccupied with their own lives to give anybody else even the scantiest of thoughts.”

Douglas Coupland Microserfs

Source: Microserfs

“I don't care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

Variant: I don't care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting.

“Of all the times to pick for this outbreak of idiocy, this has gotta be the worst possible. It’s got to be deliberate. Nothing this fouled up could be by chance.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Falling Free (1988), Chapter 4 (p. 78)

“Some people want it all
But I don't want nothing at all
If it ain't you baby
If I ain't got you baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain't got you, Yeah”

Alicia Keys (1981) American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress

Source: Alicia Keys: Unplugged

“Also, vaccine? Mask? Pick one! You've got to pick. You can't make me mask if I've had the vaccine.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Source: Sen. Chris Coons and Caitlin Flanagan, Natural Immunity, (2021)

“My heart was beating. I got sick in my stomach and my hands were sweating — everything you feel when you are under pressure. I've been nervous before, but nothing like this.”

Annika Sörenstam (1970) Swedish golfer

Comments about the first tee pressure after first round of the Bank of America Colonial PGA Tournament - May 2003 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2003-05-22-colonial_x.htm

“If I've got a talent, it's for picking the right song at the right time for the right audience. And I can always seem to get people to sing with me.”

Pete Seeger (1919–2014) American folk singer

"A Minstrel with a Mission", Life magazine, 1964.

“If I had to pick a religion, I'd pick Buddhism. Buddhism is a kindly religion. It says you got a chance… it's got humor, it's got wisdom, it says to be nice to each other. All the rest of them have gods that want to beat the crap out of you if you defy the rules.”

Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) American writer

Interviewed by J. Michael Straczynski Clue book for the computer version of I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream http://infidels.org/kiosk/author/harlan-ellison-207.html

“Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Charles Bukowski 555

Related quotes

Related topics