Quotes by Charles Bukowski

About Charles Bukowski:

Henry Charles Bukowski was a German-born American poet, novelist, and short story writer.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

You could sit in there all day drinking coffee and they never asked you to leave no matter how bad you looked. They just asked the bums not to bring their wine and drink it there. Places like that gave you hope when there wasn´t much hope.

Charles Bukowski

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

Charles Bukowski

First paycheck I get, I thought, I'm going to get myself a room near the downtown L.A. Public Library.

Charles Bukowski

I was like a turd that drew flies instead of like a flower that butterflies and bees desired. I wanted to live alone,I felt best being alone, cleaner,,,

Charles Bukowski

Never bring a lot of money to where a poor man lives. He can only lose what little he has. On the other hand it is mathematically possible that he might win whatever you bring with you. What you must do, with money and the poor, is never let them get...

Charles Bukowski

I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.

Charles Bukowski

The best thing about the bedroom was the bed. I liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with covers pulled up to my chin. It was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing.

Charles Bukowski

What a weary time those years were -- to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability.

Charles Bukowski

When I get down to my last dime I'll just walk over to skid row." "There are some real weirdos down there." "They're everywhere.

Charles Bukowski

It was a joy! Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.

Charles Bukowski

I'd decided the campus was just a place to hide. There were some campus freaks who stayed on forever. The whole college scene was soft. They never told you what to expect out there in the real world. They just crammed you with theory and never told y...

Charles Bukowski

Turgenev was a very serious fellow but he could make me laugh because a truth first encountered can be very funny. When someone else's truth is the same as your truth, and he seems to be saying it just for you, that's great.

Charles Bukowski

There are no good wars or bad wars. The only thing bad about a war is to lose it. All wars have been fought for a so-called good Cause on both sides. But only the victor's Cause becomes history's Noble Cause. It's not a matter of who is right or who ...

Charles Bukowski

In the old days, before I was married, or knew a lot of women, I would just pull down all the shades and go to bed for three or four days. I'd get up to shit. I'd eat a can of beans, go back to bed, just stay there for three or four days. Then I'd pu...

Charles Bukowski

Well it’s good to have a car like that, once in a while somebody’ll say, ‘why don’t you come over for dinner?’ and I can just say, ‘Car won’t make it.’ I don’t have to tell them that time is scarcer than young pussy around here, and...

Charles Bukowski

The good times were over. Nobody gave a shit and nobody had any money and if they had any, they kept it.

Charles Bukowski

you shoulda known the entirety of the trap, a**hole, love means eventual pain victory means eventual defeat grace means eventual slovenliness, there's no way out...you see, you understand?

Charles Bukowski

Are there good governments and bad governments? No, there are only bad governments and worse governments.

Charles Bukowski

and love is a word used too much and much too soon.

Charles Bukowski

Once in a rare lifetime have you ever been in a roomful of people who only helped you when you looked at them, listened to them. this was one of those magic times. I knew it.

Charles Bukowski

There 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

Author Bio

  • NameCharles Bukowski
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • BornAugust 16, 1920
  • DiedMarch 9, 1994
  • CountryGermany; United States Of America
  • ProfessionActor; Writer; Screenwriter; Poet; Novelist