The collection / 397 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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397 results · Page 5 of 17Play this collection ▷

01Undated

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 / quote

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02Undated

Basically, that's why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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03Undated

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 / quote

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04Undated

The writer has no responsibility other than to jack off in bed alone and write a good page.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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05Undated

If something burns your soul with purpose and desire, it’s your duty to be reduced to ashes by it. Any other form of existence will be yet another dull book in the library of life.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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06Undated

Mëso të mos e shkatërrosh me fjalë atë çfarë ke ndërtuar me heshtje.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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07Undated

For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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08Undated

I had also read somewhere that if a man didn't truly believe or understand what he was espousing, somehow he could do a more convincing job

Charles Bukowski / quote

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09Undated

Her violence frightened me. She always claimed that I was the jealous one, and I was often jealous, but when I saw things working against me I simply became disgusted and withdrew. Lydia was different. She reacted. She was the Head Cheerleader at the Game of Violence.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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10Undated

people need me. I fillthem. if they can't see mefor awhile the get desperate, they getsick.but if I see them too oftenI get sick. it's hard to feedwithout getting fed.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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11Undated

it's good to have things done withwhen they don't workit's also good not to hateor even forgetthe person you've failed with.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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12Undated

Goodness could be found sometimes in the middle of hell.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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13Undated

the tired sunsets and the tired people - it takes a lifetime to die and no time at all.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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14Undated

a life can change in a tenth ofa second.or sometimes it can take70years.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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15Undated

sometimes a man must fight so hard for life that he doesn't have time to live it.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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16Undated

great books are the ones we need

Charles Bukowski / quote

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17Undated

I could read the great books but the great books don't interest me.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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18Undated

I often carry things to read so that I will not have to look at the people.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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19Undated

I walked around the library looking for books. I pulled them off the shelves, one by one. But they were all tricks. They were very dull. There were pages and pages of words that didn't say anything. Or if they did say something they took too long to say it and by the time they said it you already were too tired to have it matter at all. I tried book after book. Surely, out of all those books, there was one.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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20Undated

I am too sick to lay downthe sidewalks frighten methe whole damned city frightens me,what I will becomewhat I have becomefrightens me.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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21Undated

I didn't like anything. Maybe I was afraid. That was it - I was afraid. I wanted to sit alone in a room with the shades down. I feasted upon that. I was a crank. I was a lunatic.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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22Undated

There is nothing that teaches you more than regrouping after failure ad moving on. Yet most people are stricken wth fear. They fear failure so much that they fail.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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23Undated

I love you butdon't know what todo.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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24Undated

I have one problem, I don’t hate people. They disgust me and I want to get away from them. I do not have hatred. I have an escape mechanism.

Charles Bukowski / quote

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