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Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski Quotes

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Famous Charles Bukowski Quotes

“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 stonewritten. 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.”

NeedsBelieveWellsWarStatesBigsReligionChurchMy OwnAnswersAcceptingLaughingOur LivesWrittenAtheismTeachingConditionsDrinkDiscoveryStonesAtheistEducationalCommandBeerBelieve In GodFormulasOddsEducational SystemBig QuestionsUnlearnDaily Atheist
Author:Charles Bukowski
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“This is very important -- to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you're gonna lose everything...just to do nothing at all, very, very important. And how many people do this in modern society? Very few. That's why they're all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.”

PeopleImportantLosesModernPeriodsEssenceAngryMadPaceLeisureFrustratedStoppingDoing NothingHatefulModern SocietyLeisure Time
Author:Charles Bukowski
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“Human relationships didn't work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death--in a cesspool.”

PeopleFirstsHumansKindTwoRealLostInterestWeekModernMaskKillersTwo WeeksParticipantsHuman RelationshipsModern SocietyImbecilesCrankDementedVengefulZing
Book:Women
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“Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you're allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It's like killing yourself, and then you're reborn. I guess I've lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now.”

MindFeelingsBodyFormNextEmotionalWallReturnDrinkThousandTenSuicideDrinkingKillingEverydayAlcoholYour BodyBeerFifteenEveryday LifeNext DayRebirthDrankRebornDrinking AlcoholBeer DrinkingDrinking BeerAlcohol DrinkingKilling YourselfAlcohol And LifeDay DrinkingEmotional Things
Author:Charles Bukowski
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“there's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out but I'm too clever, I only let him out at night sometimes when everybody's asleep. I say, I know that you're there, so don't be sad. then I put him back, but he's singing a little in there, I haven't quite let him die and we sleep together like that with our secret pact and it's nice enough to make a man weep, but I don't weep, do you?”

KnowsMenWantHeartLittlesSometimesEnoughTogetherNightDiesSleepSecretNiceHavensMy HeartSingingCleverPactBluebirdDon't Be Sad
Book:On Love
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“I couldn't get myself to read the want ads. The thought of sitting in front of a man behind a desk and telling him that I wanted a job, that I was qualified for a job, was too much for me. Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed. So I stayed in bed and drank. When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn't have you by the throat.”

MenWorldWantStillsMomentsWantedJobsOrderWorkSleepBehindsToo MuchFrontsBedSittingDrinkingReal LifeDrunkMeaning Of LifeThroatAdsDesksLiving My LifeQualifiedRestrictionDrankNew Job
Author:Charles Bukowski
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“And it seems people should not build houses anymore it seems people should stop working and sit in small rooms on second floors under electric lights without shades; it seems there is a lot to forget and a lot not to do and in drugstores, markets, bars, the people are tired, they do not want to move, and I stand there at night and look through this house and the house does not want to be built”

PeopleWantShouldLooksDoeLightSeemsMovingNightHouseForgetRoomsBuiltTiredBarsShadeElectricElectric LightSmall Rooms
Book:Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
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“Pain is strange. A cat killing a bird, a car accident, a fire.... Pain arrives, BANG, and there it is, it sits on you. It's real. And to anybody watching, you look foolish. Like you've suddenly become an idiot. There's no cure for it unless you know somebody who understands how you feel, and knows how to help.”

KnowsFeelsLooksRealHelpingPainKnow HowFireCarStrangeLike YouBirdCatKillingAccidentsFoolishCuresIdiotBangsHow You FeelCar Accident
Book:Women
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