01c. 1957 ADBorn into thisInto hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to dieInto lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guiltyInto a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closedInto a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes...Charles Bukowski / quote ↗
02c. 1957 ADI care for you, darling, I love you,the only reason I fucked L. is because you fuckedZ. and then I fucked R. and you fucked N.and because you fucked N. I had to fuckY. 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 / quote ↗
04c. 1957 ADThe 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 / quote ↗
05c. 1957 ADI remember yoursaying: "make itor break it."neither happened anditwon't.Charles Bukowski / quote ↗
07c. 1957 ADIt got so bad that Al thoughtmaybe it washimso he went to a shrinkand askedand the shrink said,"you're one of the sanest menI've ever met."poor Al.that made him feelworse than ever.Charles Bukowski / quote ↗
10c. 1957 ADgreat 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 / quote ↗
11c. 1957 ADHe 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 / quote ↗
12c. 1957 ADthe writing of somemenis like a vast bridgethat carries youoverthe many thingsthat claw and tear.The Wine of ForeverCharles Bukowski / quote ↗
14c. 1957 ADWriting 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 / quote ↗
15c. 1957 ADnothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls from failing.Charles Bukowski / quote ↗
16c. 1957 ADwriting about a writer's block is better than not writing at allCharles Bukowski / quote ↗
17c. 1957 ADtake a writer away from his typewriterand all you have leftisthe sicknesswhich started himtypingin thebeginningCharles Bukowski / quote ↗
18c. 1957 ADif 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 / quote ↗
19c. 1957 ADThere 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 / quote ↗
20c. 1957 ADWhat 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 / quote ↗
21c. 1957 ADnot writing is not good but trying to write when you can't is worse.Charles Bukowski / quote ↗
23c. 1957 ADDon’t ever write a novel unless it hurts like a hot turd coming outCharles Bukowski / quote ↗
24c. 1957 ADThere 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 / quote ↗
