Quotes from book
Post Office

Name: Post Office
Author: Charles Bukowski

Post Office is the first novel written by Charles Bukowski, published in 1971 when he was 50 years old.

“Look, you're small-town. I've had over 50 jobs, maybe a hundred. I've never stayed anywhere long. What I am trying to say is, there is a certain game played in offices all over America. The people are bored, they don't know what to do, so they play the office-romance game. Most of the time it means nothing but the passing of time. Sometimes they do manage to work off a screw or two on the side. But even then, it is just an offhand pasttime, like bowling or t. v. or a New Year's Eve party. You've got to understand that it doesn't mean anything and then you won't get hurt. Do you understand what I mean?”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“They wouldn't fire me. Even the salesmen liked me. They were robbing the boss out the back door but I didn't say anything. That was their little game. It didn't interest me. I wasn't much of a petty thief. I wanted the whole world or nothing.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Variant: I wasn't much of a petty thief. I wanted the whole world or nothing."
Source: Post Office (1971)

“Food is good for the nerves and the spirit. Courage comes from the belly – all else is desperation.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“Fay had a spot of blood on the left side of her mouth and I took a wet cloth and wiped it off. Women were meant to suffer; no wonder they asked for constant declarations of love.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office (1971)

“It began as a mistake.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“The blankets had fallen off and I stared down at her white back, the shoulder blades sticking out as if they wanted to grow into wings, poke through that skin. Little blades. She was helpless.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“Any damn fool can beg up some kind of job; it takes a wise man to make it without working.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office (1971)

“What's wrong with assholes, baby?”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“…He was always high on drugs. I was not a drug man, but in case I wanted to hide from myself for a few days, I knew I could get anything I wanted from him.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“But now and then, a woman walks up, full blossom, a woman just bursting out of her dress…a sex creature, a curse, the end of it all.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“Let' em learn or let' em die”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office

“In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.
Maybe I'll write a novel, I thought.
And then I did.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“It was the poor part of town—small houses and courts with mailboxes full of spiders, mailboxes hanging by one nail, old women inside rolling cigarettes and chewing tobacco and humming to their canaries and watching you, an idiot lost in the rain.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“I thought about taking a shower but I could see the headlines: MAILMAN CAUGHT DRINKING THE BLOOD OF GOD AND TAKING A SHOWER, NAKED, IN A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. …I found out later that mail for the church was delivered to the parish house around the corner. But now, of course, I knew where to… shower when I'm down and out.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“WHAT'S WRONG WITH ASSHOLES, BABY? YOU'VE GOT AN ASSHOLE, I'VE GOT AN ASSHOLE! YOU GO TO THE STORE AND BUY A PORTERHOUSE STEAK, THAT HAD AN ASSHOLE! ASSHOLES COVER THE EARTH! IN A WAY TREES HAVE ASSHOLES BUT YOU CAN'T FIND THEM, THEY JUST DROP THEIR LEAVES. YOUR ASSHOLE, MY ASSHOLE, THE WORLD IS FULL OF BILLIONS OF ASSHOLES. THE PRESIDENT HAS AN ASSHOLE, THE CARWASH BOY HAS AN ASSHOLE, THE JUDGE AND THE MURDERER HAVE ASSHOLES... EVEN THE PURPLE STICKINPIN HAS AN ASSHOLE!”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“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)

“"Wouldn't you like to come in and have a cup of tea and dry off?"
"Lady, don't you realize that we don't even have time to pull up our shorts?"
"Pull up your shorts?"
"YES, PULL UP OUR SHORTS!" I screamed at her and walked off into the wall of water.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

“I didn't even have a uniform, just a cap. I wore my regular clothes. The way my shackjob Betty and I drank there was hardly money for clothes.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Post Office (1971)

Similar authors

Charles Bukowski555

American writer 1920–1994

Frank Herbert158

American writer None

William Saroyan190

American writer None

Ray Bradbury401

American writer None

William Faulkner214

American writer None

Julio Cortázar29

Argentinian writer None

David Foster Wallace185

American fiction writer and essayist None

Pearl S. Buck95

American writer None

Joseph Campbell140

American mythologist, writer and lecturer None

Dale Carnegie98

American writer and lecturer None