A collection of sayings and quotations by Charles Bukowski on humor, religion, atheism, loneliness, sacrifice, laughter, loss, love, solitude and misanthropy.
Heinrich Karl Bukowski, better known as Henry Charles Bukowski, was a German-born American novelist, short story writer and poet, who is included among the influential poets to have enriched American literature during their lifetime. Bukowski’s works were primarily focused on the social and economic situation in Los Angeles, the city in which he lived. Bukowski’s poems, short stories and novels dealt with the lives of downtrodden and poorer sections of the American population, which made TIME magazine describe him as the ‘laureate of American lowlife’. He produced a staggering amount of work throughout his career with the number of poems running into thousands. In addition to that he wrote six novels as well as plenty of short stories. Some of his well-known poetry collections include ‘The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills’, ‘Scarlet’ and ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ among others. On the other hand, ‘Post Office’, ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Ham on Rye’ are some of his well known novels. Bukowski also wrote for an underground publication named Open City. He was a highly intelligent man, who had a unique take on the world. We bring to you some of the best known quotes from Charles Bukowski’s life, times and work. Some of these quotes are excerpted from Charles Bukowski's poems, novels and short stories.
Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.
We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Charles Bukowski
An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.
Charles Bukowski
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
Lighting new cigarettes,
pouring more
drinks.
It has been a beautiful
fight.
Still
is.
Charles Bukowski
We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain.
Charles Bukowski
Great art is horseshit, buy tacos.
Charles Bukowski
Dogs and angels are not
very far apart
Charles Bukowski
She was desperate and she was choosey
at the same time and, in a way, beautiful, but she didn't have quite enough going for her to become what
she imagined herself to be.
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting
Love is all right for those who can handle the psychic overload. It's like trying to carry a full garbage can on your back over a rushing river of piss.
Each man's hell is in a different place:
mine is just up and behind
my ruined face.
Charles Bukowski
She is no longer
the beautiful woman
she was. she sends
photos of herself
sitting upon a rock
by the ocean
alone and damned.
I could have had
her once. I wonder
if she thinks I
could have
saved her?
"she’ mad but she’
magic. there’ no lie in her fire.
Charles Bukowski
I said goodbye again
sucking up all that was left of her into the
little that was left of
me. I said, 'don't look for me again. fuck it.
we are all lost. goodbye, goodbye.
Any asshole can chase a skirt, art takes discipline.
Charles Bukowski
I wasn't a misanthrope and I wasn't a misogynist but I liked being alone. It felt good to sit alone in a small space and smoke and drink. I had always been good company for myself.
And then there are some who
believe that old
relationships can be
revived and made new
again.
but please
if you feel that way
don't phone
don't write
don't arrive
Nothing is worse than to finish a good shit, then reach over and find the toilet paper container empty. Even the most horrible human being on earth deserves to wipe his ass.
Charles Bukowski
In my next life I want to be a cat. To sleep 20 hours a day and wait to be fed. To sit around licking my ass.
It's better to do a dull thing with style than a dangerous thing without it.
Charles Bukowski
I didn't have any friends at school, didn't want any. I felt better being alone. I sat on a bench and watched the others play and they looked foolish to me.
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
It was a joy! Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.
