200+ Quotes & Sayings By Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski was born in Los Angeles, California and lived in several places before settling in San Pedro, California, where he wrote and published his first book of poetry. His writing career began when he was a student at San Pedro High School. He later moved to Las Vegas and San Francisco where he worked various jobs while continuing to write poetry and short stories. In 1978 his poetry collection Post Office Poems was published by City Lights Books in San Francisco Read more

In 1971 the poet John Giorno edited and published Bukowski's first novel Women, Etc. Embraced by critics who praised his "forceful prose," the book appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks. Bukowski's most popular work is Ham on Rye, which has been translated into thirty-six languages and has sold more than two million copies.

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My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover.~ Falsely yours Charles Bukowski
Find what you love and let it kill you.
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Find what you love and let it kill you. Charles Bukowski
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I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of. Charles Bukowski
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Love is a form of prejudice. You love what you need, you love what makes you feel good, you love what is convenient. How can you say you love one person when there are ten thousand people in the world that you would love more if you ever met them? But you'll never meet them. All right, so we do the best we can. Granted. But we must still realize that love is just the result of a chance encounter. Most people make too much of it. On these grounds a good fuck is not to be entirely scorned. But that's the result of a chance meeting too. You're damned right. Drink up. We'll have another. Charles Bukowski
Some moments are nice, some arenicer, some are even worthwritingabout.
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Some moments are nice, some arenicer, some are even worthwritingabout. Charles Bukowski
I drive around the streetsan inch away from weeping, ashamed...
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I drive around the streetsan inch away from weeping, ashamed of my sentimentality andpossible love. Charles Bukowski
She's mad, but she's magic. There's no lie in her...
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She's mad, but she's magic. There's no lie in her fire. Charles Bukowski
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I was glad I wasn't in love, that I wasn't happy with the world. I like being at odds with everything. People in love often become edgy, dangerous. They lose their sense of perspective. They lose their sense of humor. They become nervous, psychotic bores. They even become killers. Charles Bukowski
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My mother, poor fish, wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times aweek, telling me to be happy: "Henry, smile! why don't you ever smile?"and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was thesaddest smile I ever saw Charles Bukowski
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And when love came to us twice and lied to us twice we decided to never love again that was fair fair to us and fair to love itself. we ask for no mercy or no miracles; we are strong enough to live and to die and to kill flies, attend the boxing matches, go to the racetrack, live on luck and skill, get alone, get alone often, and if you can't sleep alone be careful of the words you speak in your sleep; and ask for no mercy no miracles; and don't forget: time is meant to be wasted, love failsand death is useless. Charles Bukowski
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Alone with everybody the flesh covers the bone and they put a mind in there and sometimes a soul, and the women break vases against the walls and them men drink too much and nobody finds the one but they keep looking crawling in and out of beds.flesh covers the bone and the flesh searches for more than flesh.there's no chance at all:we are all trapped by a singular fate.nobody ever finds the one.the city dumps fill the junkyards fill the mad houses fill the hospitals fill the graveyards fill nothing else fills. Charles Bukowski
If I never see you again I will always carry...
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If I never see you again I will always carry youinsideoutsideon my fingertipsand at brain edgesand in centerscentersof what I am ofwhat remains. Charles Bukowski
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After dinner or lunch or whatever it was -- with my crazy 12-hour night I was no longer sure what was what -- I said, "Look, baby, I'm sorry, but don't you realize that this job is driving me crazy? Look, let's give it up. Let's just lay around and make love and take walks and talk a little. Let's go to the zoo. Let's look at animals. Let's drive down and look at the ocean. It's only 45 minutes. Let's play games in the arcades. Let's go to the races, the Art Museum, the boxing matches. Let's have friends. Let's laugh. This kind of life like everybody else's kind of life: it's killing us. Charles Bukowski
People don't need love. What they need is success in...
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People don't need love. What they need is success in one form or another. It can be love but it needn't be. Charles Bukowski
Life's as kind as you let it be.
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Life's as kind as you let it be. Charles Bukowski
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It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it. Charles Bukowski
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Style is the answer to everything. A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art Bullfighting can be an art Boxing can be an art Loving can be an art Opening a can of sardines can be an art Not many have style Not many can keep style I have seen dogs with more style than men, although not many dogs have style. Cats have it with abundance. When Hemingway put his brains to the wall with a shotgun, that was style. Or sometimes people give you style Joan of Arc had style John the BaptistJesusSocratesCaesarGarcía Lorca.I have met men in jail with style. I have met more men in jail with style than men out of jail. Style is the difference, a way of doing, a way of being done. Six herons standing quietly in a pool of water, or you, naked, walking out of the bathroom without seeing me. Charles Bukowski
I wish to weepbut sorrow isstupid. I wish to believebut...
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I wish to weepbut sorrow isstupid. I wish to believebut belief is agraveyard. Charles Bukowski
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The Laughing Heartyour life is your lifedon’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.be on the watch.there are ways out.there is a light somewhere.it may not be much light butit beats the darkness.be on the watch.the gods will offer you chances.know them.take them.you can’t beat death butyou can beat death in life, sometimes.and the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be.your life is your life.know it while you have it.you are marvelousthe gods wait to delightin you. Charles Bukowski
People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things,...
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People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice. Charles Bukowski
Can you remember who you were, before the world told...
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Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be? Charles Bukowski
Having nothing to struggleagainstthey have nothing to strugglefor.
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Having nothing to struggleagainstthey have nothing to strugglefor. Charles Bukowski
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There is a place in the heart thatwill never be filleda spaceand even during thebest momentsandthe greatest timestimeswe will know itwe will know itmore thaneverthere is a place in the heart thatwill never be filledandwe will waitandwaitin that space. Charles Bukowski
It was like the beginning of life and laughter. It...
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It was like the beginning of life and laughter. It was the real meaning of the sun Charles Bukowski
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The nights you fight best arewhen all the weapons are pointed at you, when all the voices hurl their insultswhile the dream is being strangled. The nights you fight best arewhen reason gets kicked in the gut, when the chariots of gloom encircle you. The nights you fight best arewhen the laughter of fools fills the air, when the kiss of death is mistaken for love. The nights you fight best arewhen the game is fixed, when the crowd screams for your blood. The nights you fight best areon a night like thisas you chase a thousand dark rats from your brain, as you rise up against the impossible, as you become a brother to the tender sister of joyand move on regardless. Charles Bukowski
Be it peace or happinesslet it enfold you
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Be it peace or happinesslet it enfold you Charles Bukowski
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When I begin to doubt my ability to work the word, I simply read another writer and know I have nothing to worry about. My contest is only with myself, to do it right, with power, and force, and delight, and gamble. Charles Bukowski
Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they...
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Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. Charles Bukowski
Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink.
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Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink. Charles Bukowski
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Yes Yeswhen God created love he didn't help most when God created dogs He didn't help dogs when God created plants that was average when God created hate we had a standard utility when God created me He created me when God created the monkey He was asleep when He created the giraffe He was drunk when He created narcotics He was high and when He created suicide He was low when He created you lying in bed He knew what He was doing He was drunk and He was high and He created the mountains and the sea and fire at the same time He made some mistakes but when He created you lying in bed He came all over His Blessed Universe. Charles Bukowski
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To me, nudity is a joke. I don't think nude people are very attractive at all. I like my women fully clothed. I like to imagine what might be under there. It might not be the standard thing. Imagine, stripping a woman down, and she has a body like a little submarine. With periscope, propellers, torpedoes. That would be the one for me. I'd marry her right off and be faithful to the end. Charles Bukowski
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What is your advice to young writers?” “Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes. Charles Bukowski
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Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Back, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart. People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice. . Charles Bukowski
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Beasts bounding through time. Van Gogh writing his brother for paints Hemingway testing his shotgun Celine going broke as a doctor of medicinethe impossibility of being human Villon expelled from Paris for being a thief Faulkner drunk in the gutters of his townthe impossibility of being human Burroughs killing his wife with a gun Mailer stabbing histhe impossibility of being human Maupassant going mad in a rowboat Dostoevsky lined up against a wall to be shot Crane off the back of a boat into the propellerthe impossibility Sylvia with her head in the oven like a baked potato Harry Crosby leaping into that Black SunLorca murdered in the road by the Spanish troopsthe impossibility Artaud sitting on a madhouse bench Chatterton drinking rat poison Shakespeare a plagiarist Beethoven with a horn stuck into his head against deafnessthe impossibility the impossibility Nietzsche gone totally madthe impossibility of being humanall too humanthis breathingin and outout and inthese punksthese cowardsthese championsthese mad dogs of glorymoving this little bit of light towardusimpossibly . Charles Bukowski
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Turgenev was a very serious fellow but he could make me laugh because a truth first encountered can be very funny. When someone else's truth is the same as your truth, and he seems to be saying it just for you, that's great. Charles Bukowski
The gods play nofavorites.
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The gods play nofavorites. Charles Bukowski
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All right, God, say that You are really there. You have put me in this fix. You want to test me. Suppose I test You? Suppose I say that You are not there? You've given me a supreme test with my parents and with these boils. I think that I have passed Your test. I am tougher than You. If You will come down here right now, I will spit into Your face, if You have a face. And do You shit? The priest never answered that question. He told us not to doubt. Doubt what? I think that You have been picking on me too much so I am asking You to come down here so I can put You to the test! I waited. Nothing. I waited for God. I waited and waited. I believe I slept. Charles Bukowski
The gods seldomgivebut so quicklytake.
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The gods seldomgivebut so quicklytake. Charles Bukowski
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We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain. Charles Bukowski
And our few good times will be rare because we...
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And our few good times will be rare because we have the critical senseand are not easy to fool with laughter Charles Bukowski
(the whole world is at thethroat of the world, everybody...
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(the whole world is at thethroat of the world, everybody feels angry, short-changed, cheated, everybody is despondent, disillusioned.) I welcomed shots of peace, tattered shards ofhappiness. Charles Bukowski
She slammed the door andwas gone. I looked at the...
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She slammed the door andwas gone. I looked at the closed doorand at the doorknoband strangely I didn't feelalone. Charles Bukowski
That was all a man needed: hope. It was lack...
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That was all a man needed: hope. It was lack of hope that discouraged a man. Charles Bukowski
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You could sit in there all day drinking coffee and they never asked you to leave no matter how bad you looked. They just asked the bums not to bring their wine and drink it there. Places like that gave you hope when there wasn´t much hope. Charles Bukowski
I carry death in my left pocket. Sometimes I take...
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I carry death in my left pocket. Sometimes I take it out and talk to it: "Hello, baby, how you doing? When you coming for me? I'll be ready. Charles Bukowski
In this land some of us fuck more than we...
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In this land some of us fuck more than we die but most of us die better than we fuck Charles Bukowski
Finally there is nothing here for death to take away.
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Finally there is nothing here for death to take away. Charles Bukowski
Dying should come easy:like a freight train youdon't hear whenyour...
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Dying should come easy:like a freight train youdon't hear whenyour back isturned. Charles Bukowski
Well, death says, as he walks by, I'm going to...
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Well, death says, as he walks by, I'm going to get you anyhow no matter what you've been: writer, cab-driver, pimp, butcher, sky-diver, I'm going to get you Charles Bukowski
The worst thing,
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The worst thing, " he told me, "is bitterness, people end up sobitter. Charles Bukowski
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As long as there arehuman beings aboutthere is never going to beany peacefor any individualupon this earth (oranywhere elsethey mightescape to).all you can dois maybe grabten lucky minuteshereor maybe an hourthere.somethingis working toward youright now, and I mean youand nobody butyou. Charles Bukowski
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I killed four flies while waiting. Damn, death was everywhere. Man, bird, beast, reptile, rodent, insect, fish didn't have a chance. The fix was in. I didn't know what to do about it. I got depressed. You know, I see a boy at the supermarket, he's packing my groceries, then I see him sticking himself into his own grave along with the toilet paper, the beer and the chicken breasts. Charles Bukowski
I see a brightportionunder the overhead lightthat shades intodarknessand then...
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I see a brightportionunder the overhead lightthat shades intodarknessand then into darkerdarknessand I can't see beyond that. Charles Bukowski
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Shot in the eyeshot in the brainshot in the assshot like a flower in the danceamazing how death wins hands downamazing how much credence is given to idiot forms oflifeamazing how laughter has been drowned outamazing how viciousness is such a constant I must soon declare my own war on their war I must hold to my last piece of ground I must protect the small space I have made that hasallowed me lifemy life not their deathmy death not their deaththis place, this time, now I vow to the sunthat I will laugh the good laugh once againin the perfect place of meforever.their death not my life. Charles Bukowski
La mayoría de la muerte de la gente es una...
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La mayoría de la muerte de la gente es una farsa, no queda en ellos nada que pueda morir Charles Bukowski
I believe that to be the world's greatest livingwriterthere must...
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I believe that to be the world's greatest livingwriterthere must be somethingterribly wrong with you. I don't even want to be the world's greatestdead writer.just being dead would be fairenough. Charles Bukowski
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I'm one of those who doesn't think there is much differencebetween an atomic scientist and a man who cleans the crappersexcept for the luck of the draw - parents with enough money to point you toward a moregenerous death.of course, some come through brilliantly, butthere are thousands, millions of others, bottled up, keptfrom even the most minute chance to realize their potential. Charles Bukowski
Waitingin a life full of little storiesfor a death to...
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Waitingin a life full of little storiesfor a death to come Charles Bukowski
I paid, got up, walkedto the door, openedit. I heard...
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I paid, got up, walkedto the door, openedit. I heard the mansay, "that guy'snuts."out on the street Iwalked northfeelingcuriouslyhonored. Charles Bukowski
The best part waspulling down theshadesstuffing the doorbellwith ragsputting the...
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The best part waspulling down theshadesstuffing the doorbellwith ragsputting the phonein therefrigeratorand going to bedfor 3 or 4days. and the next bestpartwasnobody evermissedme. Charles Bukowski
Sometimes things are just what they seem to be and...
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Sometimes things are just what they seem to be and that's all there is to it. Charles Bukowski
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Poetry is what happens when nothing else can. Charles Bukowski
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When I am feelinglowall i have to do iswatch my catsand mycouragereturns Charles Bukowski
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Sometimes when everything seems atits worstwhen all conspiresand gnawsand the hours, days, weeksyearsseem wasted — stretched there upon my bedin the darklooking upward at the ceilingi get what many will consider anobnoxious thought:it’s still nice to be Bukowski. Charles Bukowski
I do think that poetry is important though, if you...
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I do think that poetry is important though, if you don’t strive at it, if you don’t fill it full of stars and falseness. Charles Bukowski
It's so easy to be a poetand so hard to...
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It's so easy to be a poetand so hard to be a man. Charles Bukowski
And then she would smile, to show me how, and...
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And then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the saddest smile I ever saw. Charles Bukowski
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During my worst timeson the park benchesin the jailsor living withwhores I always had this certaincontentment- I wouldn't call ithappiness-it was more of an innerbalancethat settled forwhatever was occuringand it helped in thefactoriesand when relationshipswent wrongwith thegirls.it helpedthrough thewars and thehangoversthe backalley fightsthehospitals.to awaken in a cheap roomin a strange city andpull up the shade-this was the craziest kind ofcontentmentand to walk across the floorto an old dresser with acracked mirror-see myself, ugly, grinning at it all.what matters most ishow well youwalk through thefire. Charles Bukowski
If I bet on humanity, I'd never cash a ticket.
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If I bet on humanity, I'd never cash a ticket. Charles Bukowski
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Most people are much better at saying things in letters than in conversation, and some people can write artistic, inventive letters, but when they try a poem or story or novel they become pretentious. Charles Bukowski
Where some god pissed a rain of reason to make...
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Where some god pissed a rain of reason to make things grow only to die, Charles Bukowski
That your power of commandwith simple language wasone of the...
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That your power of commandwith simple language wasone of the magnificent things ofour century.(from the poem: result) Charles Bukowski
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Born into this Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes... Charles Bukowski
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I care for you, darling, I love you, the only reason I fucked L. is because you fucked Z. and then I fucked R. and you fucked N.and because you fucked N. I had to fuck Y. But I think of you constantly, I feel youhere in my belly like a baby, love I'd call it, no matter what happens I'd call it love, and soyou fucked C. and then before I could moveyou fucked W., so I had to fuck D. ButI want you to know that I love you, I think of youconstantly, I don't think I've ever loved anybodylike I love you. Charles Bukowski
We must bringour own lightto thedarkness.
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We must bringour own lightto thedarkness. Charles Bukowski
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The place trembled with sound. I didn't need to do anything. They would do it all. But you had to be careful. Drunk as they were they could immediately detect any false gesture, any false word. You could never underestimate an audience. They had paid to get in; they had paid for drinks; they intended to get something and if you didn't give it to them they'd run you right into the ocean. Charles Bukowski
I remember yoursaying:
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I remember yoursaying: "make itor break it."neither happened anditwon't. Charles Bukowski
I wait on my fix: I am a poetry junkie.
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I wait on my fix: I am a poetry junkie. Charles Bukowski
It got so bad that Al thoughtmaybe it washimso he...
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It got so bad that Al thoughtmaybe it washimso he went to a shrinkand askedand the shrink said, "you're one of the sanest men I've ever met."poor Al.that made him feelworse than ever. Charles Bukowski
Jag föddes för att kränga rosor på de dödas avenyer
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Jag föddes för att kränga rosor på de dödas avenyer Charles Bukowski
Crawled like a blind slug into the web
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Crawled like a blind slug into the web Charles Bukowski
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Great writers are indecent peoplethey live unfairlysaving the best part for paper.good human beings save the worldso that bastards like me can keep creating art, become immortal.if you read this after I am deadit means I made it. Charles Bukowski
He asked,
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He asked, "What makes a man a writer?" "Well, " I said, "it's simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge. Charles Bukowski
The writing of somemenis like a vast bridgethat carries youoverthe...
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The writing of somemenis like a vast bridgethat carries youoverthe many thingsthat claw and tear. The Wine of Forever Charles Bukowski
Unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don't...
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Unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don't do it Charles Bukowski
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Writing is something that you don't know how to do. You sit down and it's something that happens, or it may not happen. So, how can you teach anybody how to write? It's beyond me, because you yourself don't even know if you're going to be able to. I'm always worried, well, you know, every time I go upstairs with my wine bottle. Sometimes I'll sit at that typewriter for fifteen minutes, you know. I don't go up there to write. The typewriter's up there. If it doesn't start moving, I say, well this could be the night that I hit the dust. Charles Bukowski
Nothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls...
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Nothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls from failing. Charles Bukowski
Writing about a writer's block is better than not writing...
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Writing about a writer's block is better than not writing at all Charles Bukowski
Take a writer away from his typewriterand all you have...
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Take a writer away from his typewriterand all you have leftisthe sicknesswhich started himtypingin thebeginning Charles Bukowski
If you think they didn't go crazy in tiny rooms...
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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
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There is only one place to write and that is alone at a typewriter. The writer who has to go into the streets is a writer who does not know the streets.. . when you leave your typewriter you leave your machine gun and the rats come pouring through. Charles Bukowski
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What is your advice to young writers?"" Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes."" What is your advice to older writers?"" If you're still alive, you don't need any advice."" What is the impulse that makes you create a poem?"" What makes you take a shit? Charles Bukowski
Not writing is not good but trying to write when...
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Not writing is not good but trying to write when you can't is worse. Charles Bukowski
There's no way I can stop writing, it's a form...
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There's no way I can stop writing, it's a form of insanity. Charles Bukowski
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Don’t ever write a novel unless it hurts like a hot turd coming out Charles Bukowski
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There is a problem with writers. If what a writer wrote was published and sold many, many copies, the writer thought he was great. If what a writer wrote was published and sold a medium number of copies, the writer thought he was great. If what a writer wrote was published and sold very few copies, the writer thought he was great. If what the writer wrote never was published and he didn't have enough the money to publish it himself, then he thought he was truly great. The truth, however, was there was very little greatness. It was almost nonexistent, invisible. But you could be sure that the worst writers had the most confidence, the least self-doubt. Anyway, writers were to be avoided, and I tried to avoid them, but it was almost impossible. They hoped for some sort of brotherhood, some kind of togetherness. None of it had anything to do with writing, none of it helped at the typewriter. Charles Bukowski
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When I was young I was depressed all the time. But suicide no longer seemed a possibility in my life. At my age there was very little left to kill. It was good to be old, no matter what they said. It was reasonable that a man had to be at least 50 years old before he could write with anything like clarity. Charles Bukowski
Basically, that's why I wrote: to save my ass, to...
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Basically, that's why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself. Charles Bukowski
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A good writer knew when not to write. Anybody could type. Not that I was a good typist also I couldn't spell and I didn't know grammar. But I knew when not to write. It was like fucking. You had to rest the godhead now and then. Charles Bukowski
The writer has no responsibility other than to jack off...
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The writer has no responsibility other than to jack off in bed alone and write a good page. Charles Bukowski