“That was all a man needed: hope. It was a lack of hope that discouraged a man.”

—  Charles Bukowski , book Factotum

Source: Factotum (1975), Ch. 29
Context: That was all a man needed: hope. It was a lack of hope that discouraged a man. I remembered my New Orleans days, living on two five-cent candy bars a day for weeks at a time in order to have leisure to write. But starvation, unfortunately, didn't improve art. It only hindered it. A man's soul was rooted in his stomach. A man could write much better after eating a porterhouse steak and drinking a pint of whiskey than he could ever write after eating a nickel candy bar. The myth of the starving artist was a hoax.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Nov. 2, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "That was all a man needed: hope. It was a lack of hope that discouraged a man." by Charles Bukowski?
Charles Bukowski photo
Charles Bukowski 555
American writer 1920–1994

Related quotes

Julie Gold photo

“And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man
(Every man).”

Julie Gold (1956) American musician

From a Distance (1985)
Context: From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man
(Every man). It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves
This is the song of every man.

Chauncey Depew photo

“A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is a man who hopes they are.”

Chauncey Depew (1834–1928) American politician

As quoted in FPA Book of Quotations : A New Collection of Famous Sayings (1952) by Franklin Pierce Adams

L. Ron Hubbard photo

“In all the broad Universe there is no other hope for Man than ourselves.”

L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) American science fiction author, philosopher, cult leader, and the founder of the Church of Scientology

"Ron's Journal" (1967).

Muammar Gaddafi photo
Friedrich Nietzsche photo

“In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments.”

... die Hoffnung: sie ist in Wahrheit das übelste der Übel, weil sie die Qual der Menschen verlängert.
I.71
Variant: Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Source: Human, All Too Human (1878)

Aristotle photo

“Hope is the dream of a waking man.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Source: The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, p. 187

Jean Paul Sartre photo
George Herbert photo

“473. Hope is the poor man's bread.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

T.S. Eliot photo

“Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Ash-Wednesday (1930)
Context: Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Edward R. Murrow photo

“All I can hope to teach my son is to tell the truth and fear no man.”

Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) Television journalist

Speech to his staff (1954)

Related topics