Quotes from Charles Bukowski

t was almost disappointing because it seemed when stress and madness were eliminated from my daily life there wasn't much left you could depend on.

and we are in bed together laughing and we don't care about anything.

Sometimes I get too exhausted to even feel bad

she slammed the door and was gone. I looked at the closed door and at the doorknob and strangely I didn't feel alone.

she knew what she wanted and it wasn't / me. / I know more women like that than any / other kind.

i am with the roots of flowers entwined, entombed sending up my passionate blossoms as a flight of rockets and argument; wine churls my throat, above me feet walk upon my brain, monkies fall from the sky clutching photographs of the planets, but i seek only music and the leisure of my pain

lay down. lay down like an animal and wait.

Why did I come here? I thought. Why is it always only a matter of choosing between something bad and something worse?

there is moss on the walls and the stain of thought and failure and waiting

A man could lose his identity fucking around too much.

and the color in my eyes has gone back into the sea.

the price of creation is never too high. the price of living with other people always is.

Fay had a spot of blood on the left side of her mouth and I took a wet cloth and wiped it off. Women were meant to suffer; no wonder they asked for constant declarations of love.

I can almost understand why people leap from bridges.

Some nights I knew that if I slept I would die.

but right now it's Bob Dylan Bob Dylan Bob Dylan all the way.

You gotta find what you like and let it kill you.

I made practice runs down to skid row to get ready for my future.

It is possible to be truly mad and to still exist upon scraps of life.

young or old, good or bad, I don't think anything dies as slow and as hard as a writer.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ASSHOLES, BABY? YOU'VE GOT AN ASSHOLE, I'VE GOT AN ASSHOLE! YOU GO TO THE STORE AND BUY A PORTERHOUSE STEAK, THAT HAD AN ASSHOLE! ASSHOLES COVER THE EARTH! IN A WAY TREES HAVE ASSHOLES BUT YOU CAN'T FIND THEM, THEY JUST DROP THEIR LEAVES. YOUR ASSHOLE, MY ASSHOLE, THE WORLD IS FULL OF BILLIONS OF ASSHOLES. THE PRESIDENT HAS AN ASSHOLE, THE CARWASH BOY HAS AN ASSHOLE, THE JUDGE AND THE MURDERER HAVE ASSHOLES . . . EVEN THE PURPLE STICKINPIN HAS AN ASSHOLE!

There's a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness.

Why do we embroider everything we say with special emphasis when all we really need to do is simply say what needs to he said? Of course the fact is that there is very little that needs to be said.

The blankets had fallen off and I stared down at her white back, the shoulder blades sticking out as if they wanted to grow into wings, poke through that skin. Little blades. She was helpless.