Authors:

Charles Bukowski Quotes - Page 5

All Quotes Age Alcohol Anarchy Army Art Beer Bones Boxing Chaos Children Christ Coffee Country Creation Darkness Death Defeat Desire Drinking Dying Earth Evil Failing Feelings Fighting Funny Genius Giving Grief Hangover Hate Hatred Heart Hell House Humanity Hurt Insanity Inspirational Jesus Joy Kissing Laughter Letting Go Life Listening Literature Loneliness Love Luck Lying Madness Magic Mask Mercy Morning Pain Past Prejudice Quitting Rain Reading Reality Running Sadness School Silence Sleep Smoking Solitude Sorrow Soul Stupidity Style Understanding Victory Waiting Wall War Water Whiskey Wife Wine Winning Worry Writing Youth
I was fairly poor but most of my money went for wine and classical music. I loved to mix the two together.

I was fairly poor but most of my money went for wine and classical music. I loved to mix the two together.

Charles Bukowski
Wine, Two, Together

In a capitalistic society the losers slaved for the winners and you have to have more losers than winners.

Charles Bukowski
Loser, Winner
Charles Bukowski (2009). “Hollywood”, p.84, Canongate Books

I no longer want it all, just some comfort and some sex and some minor love.

Charles Bukowski
Sex, Comfort, Want

Those faces you see every day on the streets were not created entirely without hope: be kind to them: like you they have not escaped.

Charles Bukowski
Be Kind, Faces, Like You

If I never see you again I will always carry you inside outside on my fingertips and at brain edges and in centers centers of what I am of what remains.

Charles Bukowski
Brain, Fingertips, You Again

Those who escape hell however never talk about it and nothing much bothers them after that

Charles Bukowski
Hell, Bother

The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it

Charles Bukowski
Soul, Lazy Eyes, Knows
Charles Bukowski (1972). “Erections, ejaculations, exhibitions, and general tales of ordinary madness”

I walked around the block twice, passed 200 people and failed to see a human being.

Charles Bukowski
Block, People, Humans
Charles Bukowski (2013). “Tales of Ordinary Madness”, p.142, City Lights Books

Things get bad for all of us, almost continually, and what we do under the constant stress reveals who/what we are.

Charles Bukowski
Stress, Adversity, Constant

Drinking is another way of thinking, another way of living. It gives you two lives instead of one.

Charles Bukowski
Drinking, Thinking, Two

I went to the bathroom and threw some water on my face, combed my hair. If I could only comb that face, I thought, but I can't.

Charles Bukowski
Hair, Water, Faces

People empty me. I have to get away to refill.

Charles Bukowski
People, Introvert, Empty
Charles Bukowski (2009). “The Captain is Out to Lunch”, p.19, Harper Collins

I just want a hot cup of coffee,black,and I don’t want to hear about your troubles.

Charles Bukowski
Coffee, Black, Hot

There's nothing to stop a man from writing unless that man stops himself. If a man truly desires to write, then he will. Rejection and ridicule will only strengthen him. And the longer he is held back the stronger he will become, like a mass of rising water against a dam. There is no losing in writing, it will make your toes laugh as you sleep, it will make you stride like a tiger, it will fire the eye and put you face to face with death. You will die a fighter, you will be honored in hell. The luck of the word. Go with it, send it.

Charles Bukowski
Writing, Sleep, Eye

the people are the biggest horror show on earth, have been for centuries.

Charles Bukowski
People, Earth, Horror

When a hot woman meets a hermit one of them is going to change.

Charles Bukowski
Hot, Hermits

Invent yourself and then reinvent yourself.

Charles Bukowski
Reinventing Yourself
Charles Bukowski (2012). “The Pleasures of the Damned: Selected Poems 1951-1993”, p.117, Canongate Books

Death is not the problem; waiting around for it is.

Charles Bukowski
Waiting Around, Waiting, Problem

Insanity is relative. Who sets the norm?

Charles Bukowski
Insanity, Norm, Relative

To create art means to be crazy alone forever.

Charles Bukowski
Art, Crazy, Mean

Human relationships didn't work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death--in a cesspool.

Charles Bukowski
Real, Two, People
Charles Bukowski (1978). “Women”

as the spirit wanes the form appears

Charles Bukowski
Spirit, Form
Charles Bukowski (2012). “The Pleasures of the Damned: Selected Poems 1951-1993”, p.105, Canongate Books

I want so much that is not here and do not know where to go.

Charles Bukowski
Want, Knows

When you play the field selfishly everything works against you: one can’t insist on love or demand affection. you’re finally left with whatever you have been willing to give which often is: nothing.

Charles Bukowski
Play, Often Is, Giving

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real, and I can't vent any anger against them. I only feel this appalling sadness. Somewhere, in their upbringing, they were shielded against the total facts of our existence. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist.

Charles Bukowski
Real, Sadness, Inability
Charles Bukowski (2015). “On Writing”, p.132, Canongate Books

You May Also Like: