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Charles Bukowski Quotes - Page 20

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I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me.

I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me.

Charles Bukowski
Pride, Darkness, Solitude
"Factotum". Book by Charles Bukowski, Ch. 17, 1975.

there are worse things than being alone but it often takes decades to realize this and most often when you do it's too late and there's nothing worse than too late

Charles Bukowski
Trust, Too Late, Realizing
Charles Bukowski (2012). “The Pleasures of the Damned: Selected Poems 1951-1993”, p.170, Canongate Books

nothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls from failing.

Charles Bukowski
Wall, Writing, Failing

He asked, "what makes a man a writer?" "well," I said, "it's simple, it's either you get it down on paper or you jump off a bridge. writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate they stop being writers." "are you desperate?" "I don't know.

Charles Bukowski
Simple, Men, Bridges

That was the trouble with being a writer, that was the main trouble—leisure time, excessive leisure time. You had to wait around for the buildup until you could write and while you were waiting you went crazy, and while you were going crazy you drank and the more you drank the crazier you got.

Charles Bukowski
Crazy, Writing, Waiting

Meanwhile the 3 a.m. drunks of the world would lay in their beds, trying in vain to sleep, and deserving that rest, if they could find it.

Charles Bukowski
Sleep, Alcohol, Trying

life itself is not the miracle. that pain should be so constant, that's the miracle -

Charles Bukowski
Pain, Miracle, Should

The best thing about the bedroom was the bed. I liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with covers pulled up to my chin. It was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing.

Charles Bukowski
Being Alone, People, Leave Me Alone
Charles Bukowski (2001). “Ham On Rye”, p.33, Canongate Books

from the beginning, through the middle years and up to the end: too bad, too bad, too bad.

Charles Bukowski
Years, Ends, Middle
Charles Bukowski (2009). “sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way: New Poems”, p.386, Zondervan

human relationships simply aren't durable. I think back to the women in my life. they seem non-existent.

Charles Bukowski
Thinking, Humans, Seems
Charles Bukowski (2009). “Love is a Dog From Hell”, p.38, Harper Collins

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
Crazy, Thinking, Rooms

it's good to have things done with when they don't work it's also good not to hate or even forget the person you've failed with.

Charles Bukowski
Hate, Done, Forget

There's nothing to mourn about death any more than there is to mourn about the growing of a flower. What is terrible is not death but the lives people live or don't live up until their death.

Charles Bukowski
Flower, People, Growing
Charles Bukowski (2009). “The Captain is Out to Lunch”, p.13, Harper Collins

I give you soul. I give you wisdom and light and music and a bit of laughter. Also, I am the world's greatest horseplayer.

Charles Bukowski
Laughter, Light, Giving

When you clean up a city, you destroy it.

Charles Bukowski
Cities, Clean

It’s hard to drink when you dance. And it’s hard to dance when you drink.

Charles Bukowski
Drink, Hard
Charles Bukowski (2009). “Women: A Novel”, p.30, Harper Collins

Oh, I don’t mean you’re handsome, not the way people think of handsome. Your face seems kind. But your eyes - they’re beautiful. They’re wild, crazy, like some animal peering out of a forest on fire.

Charles Bukowski
Beautiful, Crazy, Mean
Charles Bukowski (2007). “Women”, Ecco

My heart is a thousand years old. I am not like other people.

Charles Bukowski
Heart, Years, People
Charles Bukowski (2011). “New Poems Book Two”, p.116, Random House

There is light somewhere.

Charles Bukowski
Light

I wanted the whole world or nothing.

Charles Bukowski
World, Wanted, Whole
Charles Bukowski (2014). “Charles Bukowski Fiction Collection”, Harper Collins

the best often die by their own hand just to get away, and those left behind can never quite understand why anybody would ever want to get away from them

Charles Bukowski
Hands, Understanding, Novelists

sometimes there's nothing to say about death.

Charles Bukowski
Sometimes

They swallow God without thinking, they swallow country without thinking. Soon they forget how to think, they let others think for them.

Charles Bukowski
Country, Thinking, Forget
Charles Bukowski (2009). “The Captain is Out to Lunch”, p.13, Harper Collins

I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.

Charles Bukowski
Mirrors, Ugly, Wonder
Charles Bukowski (2001). “Ham On Rye”, p.149, Canongate Books

The world had somehow gone too far, and spontaneous kindness could never be so easy.

Charles Bukowski
Kindness, Gone, World
Charles Bukowski (2009). “Hollywood”, p.45, Canongate Books

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