Charles Bukowski Quotes

That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.

I will remember the kisses
our lips raw with love
and how you gave me
everything you had
and how I
offered you what was left of
me,
and I will remember your small room
the feel of you
the light in the window
your records
your books
our morning coffee
our noons our nights
our bodies spilled together
sleeping
the tiny flowing currents
immediate and forever
your leg my leg
your arm my arm
your smile and the warmth
of you
who made me laugh
again.

people run from rain but
sit
in bathtubs full of
water.

People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel hate or love.

All a guy needed was a chance. Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t.

and you invented me
and I invented you
and that's why we don't
get along
on this bed
any longer.
you were the world's
greatest invention
until you
flushed me
away.

now it's your turn
to wait for the touch
of the handle.
somebody will do it
to you,
bitch,
and if they don't
you will -
mixed with your own
green or yellow or white
or blue
or lavender
goodbye.

I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the
room was like sunlight to me.

No shortcuts, with me as with life.

This is very important — to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you're gonna lose everything...just to do nothing at all, very, very important. And how many people do this in modern society? Very few. That's why they're all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.

The fuckers. There, I feel better. God-damned human race. There, I feel better.

I walk through rooms of the dead, streets of the dead, cities of the dead: men without eyes, men without voices; men with manufactured feelings and standard reactions; men with newspaper brains, television souls and high school ideals.

The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.

My ambition is handicapped by my laziness.

The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it - basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.

I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.