Charles Bukowski Quotes

Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. He is known for his gritty and unfiltered writing style, often depicting the harsh realities of urban life. Bukowski's works have gained a cult following and are celebrated for their raw honesty and exploration of the human condition.

You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way.... -Charles Bukowski

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.

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.

Much publishing is done through politics, friends,... -Charles Bukowski

Much publishing is done through politics, friends, and natural stupidity.

Discovering the context

The quote humorously suggests that a significant portion of published material results from political connections, personal relationships, or instances of unintentional foolishness.

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.

We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church... -Charles Bukowski

We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our education system.

When everything works best, it's not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It's when you're mad with it, it's when it's stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It's when there's no hope but that.

The thing that I fear discriminating against is hu... -Charles Bukowski

The thing that I fear discriminating against is humor and truth.

Discovering the context

The quote expresses the speaker's concern about the potential discrimination or disregard faced by humor and truth. It suggests that humor and truth should be valued and protected rather than marginalized.

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.

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real, and I can't vent any anger against them; I only feel this appalling sadness. Somewhere in their upbringing, they were shielded against the total facts of our existence.

I would be married, but I'd have no wife, I would ... -Charles Bukowski

I would be married, but I'd have no wife, I would be married to a single life.

Show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I'll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities.

I don't like the clean-shaven boy with the necktie and the good job. I like desperate men, men with broken teeth and broken minds and broken ways. They interest me. They are full of surprises and explosions.

Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good... -Charles Bukowski

Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste.

Discovering the context

This quote humorously implies that individuals with questionable or lowbrow tastes often achieve more financial success or wealth than those with refined or sophisticated tastes. It plays on the idea that popular or commercially successful trends may not always align with high-quality or discerning standards.

There are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls, but these are the exact women who will turn the knife into you right in front of the crowd. Of course, I expect this, but the knife still cuts.

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our live... -Charles Bukowski

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

I can relax with bums because I am a bum. I don't like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don't like to be shaped by society.

What my character is or how many jails I have lounged in, or wards or walls or wassails, how many lonely-heart poetry readings I have dodged, is beside the point. A man's soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper.

I have not worked out my poems with a careful will, falling rather on haphazard and blind formulation of wordage, a more flowing concept, in a hope for a more new and lively path. I do personalize at times, but this only for the grace and elan of the dance.

Genius might be the ability to say a profound thin... -Charles Bukowski

Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.

Charles Bukowski Quotes

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