The 110 best phrases of Charles Bukowski

charles bukowski (1920 - 1994) was a relevant German writer and poet who emigrated to the United States when he was three years old. United States, where he was nationalized and lived (especially in the city of Los Angeles) until the day of his tragic death. death.

This famous writer was the author of great works such as: "Women", "Pulp", "Hollywood", "Writings of an indecent old man" or "Woman wanted". If you have never heard of it, this may be the opportunity you have been waiting for to discover it.

• Recommended article: "The 75 Best Sean Connery Quotes"

The most remembered phrases and reflections of Charles Bukowski

below you will find a selection of the best phrases and famous quotes from Charles Bukowski, one of the most relevant authors of the 20th century.

1. Some people never go crazy. What a horrible life they must have.

Bukowski has a way of understanding himself and the people around him in a very particular way. What would life be without a little madness?

2. Real loneliness isn't necessarily limited to when you're alone.

Loneliness it can be a very unpleasant feeling, and it doesn't leave us even if we are surrounded by people.

3. How sad those years were, having the desire and need to live but not having the ability.

When we discover our great passion for a job, we learn to use time in a much more productive way.

4. Love is a form of prejudice. You love what you need, you love what makes you feel good, you love what suits you.

A very particular way of seeing love, something like a relationship of mutual interest.

5. You have to die a few times before you can truly live.

If we don't suffer mistakes we can never learn from them, mistakes teach us how to live our life.

6. When something bad happens, you drink to forget it; if something good happens, you drink to celebrate it; and if nothing happens, you also drink so that something happens.

Alcoholism is a disease that is widespread in our society and greatly conditions our way of life.

7. They can see you dying in a ditch and they will walk right past you and spit on you.

Evil is deeply rooted within people, without going any further, the human being is the only animal that kills for pleasure.

8. Of course it is possible to love another person if you don't know them very well.

When we really know someone and see all their flaws, it seems more difficult for us to love them.

9. I like to think of all those people who taught me things that I had never imagined before.

Learning from the knowledge that others can bring us is something that we should all know how to do.

10. In the end we end up crazy and alone.

Old age is a stage that can be very hard if we do not have the support of our friends and family.

11. The free soul is easily identified when you see it.

It is true that when we see a person who we can consider a free soul, we perceive him as such with the naked eye, just with a glance.

12. Most of the time, the best thing in life is doing nothing at all, spending time reflecting.

Reflecting is something that can bring us many benefits, listening to ourselves and reflecting on our thoughts is an activity that many of us do not do due to lack of time.

13. Love burns with the first sun of reality.

Love can disappear as suddenly as it appeared in our life.

14. I have to go, I don't know exactly why; I'm crazy I guess. Bye bye.

A quote that shows us very well the eccentric personality that Bukowski possessed.

15. Beware those seeking crowds.

Those who wish to do evil know that surrounded by people they go more unnoticed.

16. He never felt lonely; the more separated from people he was, the better he felt.

At certain moments in life we ​​need some moments of solitude to be able to think clearly and understand what we want or what we need.

17. It takes a lot of despair, dissatisfaction, and disappointment to write a few good poems.

The most unpleasant feelings can inspire us to write about them.

18. People do not want to work, people want to live well, but without working.

It is a great truth, we all want to live with all the luxuries and not have to work.

19. The difference between a brave man and a coward is that a coward thinks twice before jumping into a cage with a lion. The brave simply do not know what a lion is.

We must not confuse bravery with ignorance, because the ignorant can seem very brave, not knowing how to correctly calculate the risks he runs.

20. To find out who your friends are, have them put you in jail.

In the toughest moments in life is when we really see who supports us and who doesn't.

21. Knowledge, if you don't know how to apply it, is worse than ignorance.

Knowledge in the wrong hands can be very counterproductive for society.

22. Psychiatrists must have a term to designate that, I also have it for psychiatrists.

This writer had an opinion about psychiatrists that in this appointment he decides to reserve, it was certainly not very positive.

23. A man takes out of thought only problems.

On many occasions our thoughts only give us more doubts, we must reflect and we must also know when not to reflect.

24. Anything can drive a man crazy because society is built on false foundations.

The society in which we live can be seen as a mere mirage, because in the most difficult situations, where emotions surface, people stop being civilized.

25. Examining his own mind is the worst thing a madman can do.

Giving too much thought to problems will not bring us greater benefits.

26. The well balanced individual is crazy.

We all have our own particular craziness and that craziness makes us the whole person that we are.

27. Man is born to die.

Dying is something that, like other living beings, men must also face.

28. I only know that there are too many people afraid.

Fear and doubts are our greatest enemies, because with them internalized we will not be able to advance in life.

29. This is how democracy works: you take what you can, try to keep it, and add something if possible.

The way that this writer had to understand democracy can be shared by many of us.

30. When love is an order, hate can become a pleasure.

Forced love does not exist, love sprouts only when he wants it.

31. It's 4:30 in the morning. It's always 4:30 in the morning.

Life can be tedious on certain occasions, because each day can seem to us to be the same as yesterday and the same as it will be tomorrow.

32. We have formed our society with our lack of spirit.

Society can be seen as very gray and lacking in personality, especially if our mood is low.

33. The pain was just like bad luck to me: I didn't know it.

Sometimes in life we ​​find it easier to ignore problems than to face them.

34. Loving people felt freer, but lacked the ability to feel or love.

There are people who don't really love anyone, they just want to be accompanied so they don't feel alone.

35. We made love in the midst of sadness.

Making love can be a relief in situations of great emotional sadness.

36. Most people go from nothing to their graves barely touched by the horror of life.

We must live our life intensely and not get carried away by the society in which we live.

37. When the spirit vanishes, the form appears.

When we stop being ourselves, we become just a shadow of what we were before.

38. Another thing in this society is what hurts you.

Society leads us on many occasions to ignore the social dramas that surround us.

39. To hell with the truth. The style is more important: how to do each thing one by one.

The truth is often ignored in society and we only worry about the most superfluous aspects.

40. Even at the racetrack I see the horses running and it seems to me that it does not make sense.

Is it really necessary for horses to compete at a racetrack? Or is it just one more madness of the society in which we live?

41. For those who believe in God, the most important questions have been answered. But for those who cannot accept God's formula, the important answers are not set in stone.

Religion can provide us with a large dose of serenity and resignation, as it provides us with a solution to all of life's problems.

42. Sometimes you get out of bed in the morning and think you can't make it, but you laugh inside because you remember all the times you've felt that way.

Pessimism accompanies us many times in life and is not always right.

43. Loneliness has never worried me because I've always had it like an itch. It's like being at a party or in a stadium full of people cheering for someone else.

Loneliness can be something we want on some occasions, because it can comfort us at certain times.

44. If you're going to try, go all the way. If not, don't even try. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, and even your mind. It could make you not eat for days... And it will be better than anything you've ever tried.

We must be consistent with our thoughts and fight to make our dreams come true.

45. Dear. Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it take all of you. Let it climb on your back and make you go down to nothing. Let it kill you and devour your remains. Because everything will kill you and it's better to be killed for something you want.

What we love the most is the only thing worth dying for, because for us it is everything.

46. Some lose their mind and become soul, crazy. Some lose their soul and become mind, intellectual. Some lose both and are accepted.

This quote tells us about the formula that leads us to be able to be accepted by society, which is none other than letting ourselves be carried away by it and its stereotypes.

47. Being alone never felt right. Sometimes it felt right, but never right.

Nobody wants to be alone in life, human beings need contact with others of their own kind.

48. Boring people all over the Earth, spreading more boring people. What a horror movie. The Earth is infested with them.

If we let ourselves be carried away by society, we become a kind of automatons that only do what is expected of us.

49. A love like that was a serious illness. A disease from which you never finish recovering.

Great loves mark us forever and we will always remember them, they will always occupy part of our being.

50. There is a place in the heart that is never full. A space that even at the best of times will never be filled, and we will wait in that space.

The human being never feels satisfied throughout his entire existence, because our desire for personal improvement always leads us to try to reach the next step or the next level.

51. It was true that he did not have much ambition, but there must be a place for people without ambition.

In today's society, people without ambition become mere numbers, useful and necessary to people who do have ambition.

52. I stopped looking for the girl of my dreams, I just wanted one that wasn't a nightmare.

Finding the right person to share our life can be very complicated and Charles Bukowski also lived that search.

53. There is no cure for pain unless you meet someone who understands how you feel and knows how to help you.

The support of our relatives is vital to be able to overcome our emotional problems.

54. I'm a genius but no one knows it apart from me.

The personality of this writer was undoubtedly what led him to the pinnacle of success. It was decisive in his life.

55. We are like roses that never bothered to bloom when we should have bloomed and that the sun got tired of.

We are the ones who self-boycott over and over again in life.

56. How can you say that you love someone when there are ten thousand people in the world that you would love more if you knew them?

Life puts certain limitations on us that greatly condition our destiny and future.

57. Good human beings save the world so that bastards like me can continue to create art, become immortal. If you're reading this after I'm dead, then I've made it.

Artists are known for their eccentric personalities, and this writer was no exception.

58. I usually bring something to read so I don't have to see people.

Engaging in reading can help us escape from the reality in which we find ourselves.

59. I went to the worst of bars expecting to be killed but all I could do was get drunk.

This writer's fondness for drink was something that accompanied him throughout his life.

60. The shortest distance between two points is usually unbearable.

The easy path can also be the most boring. problems give us more opportunities to try to improve ourselves.

61. There is always a woman who saves you from another, and as she saves you, she prepares to destroy you.

Bukowski always had a soft spot for women, but their psyche was a bit strange to him.

62. You don't have to mourn death, just as you don't have to feel sad about a flower that grows. What is terrible is not death but the lives that people live or do not live.

Death, as this famous writer rightly says, is not sad, what is really sad is not living life with enough intensity.

63. The pain is strange. He is a cat killing a bird, a car accident, a fire. The pain comes BANG! and sits on you. It is real. And to anyone looking at you, you look like an idiot. Like you've suddenly become a fool.

Pain can appear at any unexpected moment, as there are many types of pain, both physical and emotional.

64. People without morals consider themselves freer, but most lack the ability to feel or love.

Morality sets us certain limits in life, but it also allows us to be able to live it in a fairer and more honest way with those around us.

65. Poetry is what happens when nothing else happens.

This writer's fondness for poetry was felt by him as mutual love.

66. There's a bluebird in my heart that wants out but I'm too strong for it. I tell him to stay there, because I won't let anyone see him.

Bukowski's inner world was undoubtedly a chaos of emotions and feelings.

67. Those who escape from hell never talk about it, and after they have escaped, there is nothing to bother them afterwards.

The most difficult situations help us to improve as individuals and give us a greater understanding of society.

68. I wanted to cry but the tears never came. It was that kind of sadness, sick sadness, the one where you couldn't feel worse. I think everyone goes through it from time to time, but for me it's very often, too often.

When sadness becomes chronic is when we enter a real depression and getting out of it without help is something much more complicated.

69. I love you as a man loves a woman he has never touched, about whom he only writes and of whom he keeps a photo.

Platonic love can be very intense for the lover, since our fantasies are always too idyllic.

70. He wanted everyone or nothing.

There is a type of people who are exactly like that, all or nothing, Charles Bukowski was one of them.

71. You will be alone with the gods and the nights will burn with fire. You will ride through life towards the perfect laugh. It's the only fight worth fighting.

The search for happiness is something that we all share in life, we want to be happy at all costs.

72. We are all gonna die. All of us, what a circus! That should make us love each other, but it doesn't. We are terrified of trivialities. We let ourselves be eaten for nothing.

As this quote says, life is too short, we must love and respect our neighbor.

73. I have never been alone. I've been in a room, I've felt suicidal, I've felt depressed, I've felt bad, but I've never felt like no one could walk into the room and heal what was troubling me.

The mind can play very tricks on us, and may not let us continue with our daily lives when we are prisoners of depression.

74. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, the state and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill in war.

The human being is the only animal that may not learn from a mistake made, we obsess over making the same mistakes.

75. "Do you hate people?" "I don't hate them, I just feel better when they're not around."

This quote reliably shows us the most antisocial personality of this poet.

76. Where have the audiences that were capable of choosing and discriminating ended up?

Audiences, like any type of group of people, can be highly manipulative.

77. Education was the new divinity, and educated men the new powerful landowners.

Education discriminates what people should know and what they shouldn't, just like the inquisition did in other times.

78. The computer is my new dildo. My typing has doubled in power and performance since I've had it.

The new technologies were well received by this writer, he knew how to make the most of them.

79. Man's greatest inventions are the bed and the atomic bomb: the former isolates you and the latter helps you escape.

In the mind of this writer these two apparently so different objects had some aspect in common.

80. The definition of life: problems.

Everyone in life must go through problems at some point, no one is immune to them.

81. If you are losing your soul and you know it, then you have another soul to lose.

The lack of illusion in life can be something that leads us to negative thoughts, we must be positive and use our time productively.

82. That was all a man needed: hope.

If we have hope in life, we will walk calmly on our path to personal success.

83. Play the violin. Do the belly dance. Plant tulips in the rain. But don't write poetry.

We must do what fills us most spiritually, even if that is making poetry.

84. A brave man is almost always a man without imagination.

Courage in many cases is simply the ignorance of what can happen to us.

85. This is also how the dictatorship works, only one enslaves and the other destroys its disinherited.

Society can be seen as a type of dictatorship, because after all there is a ruling class that brings together all the power.

86. Dogs have fleas, people have problems.

Problems are part of life and they teach us to enjoy their absence.

87. When you are on the street is when you realize that everything has an owner.

In the capitalist society we live in, everything belongs to someone and if it doesn't, something is wrong.

88. And there is also, of course, the madness and terror of knowing that some part of you is like a clock that cannot be wound up again, once it stops.

Life is ephemeral and has a fixed duration, but no one knows how long their own will last.

89. It's amazing what a man has to do just to eat, sleep and dress.

Capitalism forces us to submit to it in order to survive, there is currently no other alternative.

90. There was some music; life seemed a little nicer then, better.

Undoubtedly, music can be very positive for living beings, there is a general belief that music tames beasts.

91. There will always be something that ruins our lives, it all depends on what or who finds us first.

A very pessimistic outlook on life, as were most of his writings.

92. If you have the capacity to love, love yourself first.

Self love is the main step to live a full and happy life.

93. It's better to do something boring with style than something dangerous without it.

A phrase that can serve as a guide for life in risky situations.

94. The less I needed, the better I felt.

The secret of happiness is in needing fewer and fewer material goods.

95. Life is as kind as you allow it to be.

A phrase about life and kindness that will make us reflect.

96. What matters is how well you walk through fire.

Life is full of obstacles and it is up to us to get through them successfully.

97. Almost everyone is born a genius and is buried a jerk.

One of Bukowski's most remembered phrases, a true criticism of modern society.

98. There are only two things wrong with money: having too much or too little.

In both cases, something is failing in society.

99. An intellectual says something simple in a difficult way. An artist says something difficult in a simple way.

A fairly accurate way of defining the difference between the intellectual and the artist.

100. There are times when a man has to fight so much for life that he doesn't have time to live it.

A very accurate reflection that can accompany us for the rest of our lives.

101. People are strange: they are constantly angry over trivial things, but in a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.

We are often preoccupied with issues that have no real importance.

102. Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste.

The rich tend to have rather poor taste, something Bukowski knew firsthand.

103. In love and war anything goes except dragging. In war you die on your feet and in love you say goodbye with dignity.

A very successful allegory of love and falling out of love.

104. A love like that was a serious illness. A disease from which you never fully recover.

Love was one of the great themes addressed in the extensive work of Charles Bukowski.

105. I think the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.

Nobody like this American author knew how to x-ray the society of his time.

106. The more cats you have, the longer you live. If you have a hundred cats, you will live 10 times longer than if you had 10. Someday this will be found out and people will have a thousand cats and live forever. It's really ridiculous.

Bukowski was a true lover of cats throughout his life.

107. The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it. Basically because you feel good, very good, when you are close to them or with them.

Some people are true free souls who make an impression on us that is hard to forget.

108. Goodness can sometimes be found in the midst of hell.

Kindness is easily identifiable even in the most unexpected places.

109. Those who escape from hell never talk about it, and after they have escaped, there is nothing to bother them afterwards.

Going through traumatic experiences is not pleasant for anyone and then it is difficult to share them.

110. There is a loneliness in this world so big that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock.

Loneliness was one of the topics most treated by this famous American author.