165 Charles Bukowski Quotes on Life, Writing, and Love

If you’re looking for some words of wisdom, look no further than Charles Bukowski. This prolific author and poet was known for his dark and cynical outlook on life, but also for his frank and honest observations. In these 165 quotes, you’ll get a glimpse into the mind of one of the most unique literary voices of our time. Whether you’re interested in writing, love, or just life in general, Bukowski has something to say that will resonate with you.

About Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski was born Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Andernach, Germany, on August 16th, 1920. He immigrated to the United States with his family when he was three years old and grew up in Los Angeles. Bukowski is considered one of the most important figures in American literature, as well as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and his books are still widely read today.

Bukowski’s writing is characterized by its honest and straightforward approach to topics such as love, sex, drinking, gambling, and death. He often wrote about life on the fringes of society and his characters often faced difficult circumstances. Bukowski’s work has inspired many other authors, including Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac, as well as several films and documentaries.

Bukowski died in San Pedro, California at the age of 73 from leukemia. Despite his short life, he left behind a legacy that has inspired generations of readers. His words are a reminder that life is not to be taken for granted and that it should be enjoyed despite its hardships.

Whether you’re looking for perspective on love, writing, or just life in general, these 165 Charles Bukowski quotes are sure to resonate with you. Enjoy!

Charles Bukowski Quotes

1. “It began as a mistake.” – Charles Bukowski
2. “nobody ever finds the one” – Charles Bukowski
3. “Love breaks my bones and I laugh” – Charles Bukowski
4. “Without literature, life is hell.” – Charles Bukowski
5. “Great art is horseshit, buy tacos.” – Charles Bukowski
6. “The less I needed, the better I felt.” – Charles Bukowski
7. “You have my soul and I have your money” – Charles Bukowski
8. “Find what you love and let it kill you.” – Charles Bukowski
9. “Eyes. Those damn eyes fucked me forever.” – Charles Bukowski
10. “be it peace or happiness let it enfold you” – Charles Bukowski
11. “Classes? Classes are for asses.” – Charles Bukowski, On Writing
12. “The trouble with a mask is it never changes” – Charles Bukowski
13. “the tigers have found me and I do not care.” – Charles Bukowski
14. “Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink.” – Charles Bukowski
15. “Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.” – Charles Bukowski
16. “İnsanların çoğu dâhi doğar gerizekalı gömülür.” – Charles Bukowski
17. “People empty me. I have to get away to refill.” – Charles Bukowski
18. “Sex is kicking death in the ass while singing.” – Charles Bukowski
19. “We deserve nothing, and that’s all we have now.” – Charles Bukowski
20. “My ambition is handicapped by laziness” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
21. “I wanted the whole world or nothing.” – Charles Bukowski, Post Office
22. “Life’s as kind as you let it be.” – Charles Bukowski, Hot Water Music
23. “The more crap you believe, the better off you are.” – Charles Bukowski
24. “I am ashamed to say I am a member of the human race.” – Charles Bukowski
25. “Any asshole can chase a skirt, art takes discipline.” – Charles Bukowski
26. “we just held each other and I had never felt so good.” – Charles Bukowski
27. “Are you becoming what you’ve always hated?” – Charles Bukowski, Hollywood
28. “‎”she’ mad but she’ magic. there’ no lie in her fire.” – Charles Bukowski
29. “If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” – Charles Bukowski
30. “We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain.” – Charles Bukowski
31. “I don’t like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there” – Bukowski C.
32. “what matters most is how well you walk through the fire” – Charles Bukowski
33. “There is no other way, and there never was.” – Charles Bukowski, On Writing
34. “i was born to hustle roses down the avenue of the dead.” – Charles Bukowski
35. “She’s mad, but she’s magic. There’s no lie in her fire.” – Charles Bukowski
36. “unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don’t do it” – charles bukowski
37. “The crazy ones only laugh when there is no reason to laugh.” – Charles Bukowski
38. “My heart is a thousand years old. I am not like other people.” – Charles Bukowski
39. “Goodness can be found sometimes in the middle of hell.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
40. “The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable.” – Charles Bukowski
41. “It’s so easy to be easy—if you let it.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
42. “Real loneliness is not necessarily limited to when you are alone.” – Charles Bukowski
43. “Beware of those who seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone.” – Charles Bukowski
44. “It’s a f*** you world. Well, keep it going anyhow, what the hell.” – Charles Bukowski
45. “In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.” – Charles Bukowski, Post Office
46. “Baby,” I said, “I’m a genius but nobody knows it but me.” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
47. “I hope that death contains less than this.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
48. “your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.” – Charles Bukowski
49. “Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” – Charles Bukowski
50. “Belane, are you nuts?” Who knows? Insanity is comparative. Who sets the norm?” – Bukowski
51. “nothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls from failing.” – Charles Bukowski
52. “Na taip, galbūt aš ir nenormalus, bet džiaugiuosi, kad bent gyvas esu.” – Charles Bukowski
53. “the history of melancholia includes all of us.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
54. “News travels fast in places where nothing much ever happens.” – Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
55. “New Year’s Eve always terrifies me.” – Charles Bukowski, Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
56. “purple does something strange to me” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
57. “It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it.” – Charles Bukowski, Pulp
58. “I pretend to understand because I don’t want anybody to be hurt” – Charles Bukowski, Hollywood
59. “my beerdrunk soul is sadder than all the dead christmas trees of the world.” – Charles Bukowski
60. “çünkü suçların en büyüğü, en acımasızı, yoksulun yoksulu soymasıdır kanımca,” – Charles Bukowski
61. “It’s better to do a dull thing with style than a dangerous thing without it.” – Charles Bukowski
62. “dogs and angels are not very far apart” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
63. “when I am feeling low all i have to do is watch my cats and my courage returns” – Charles Bukowski
64. “Of course it’s possible to love a human being if you don’t know them too well.” – Charles Bukowski
65. “in this room the hours of love still make shadows.” – Charles Bukowski, The Pleasures of the Damned
66. “I think I need a drink.’ ‘Almost everybody does only they don’t know it.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
67. “I wasn’t much of a petty thief. I wanted the whole world or nothing.” – Charles Bukowski, Post Office
68. “İnsan ırkını asla anlayamayacaktım, ama birilerinin şarlatanı oynaması gerekiyordu.” – Charles Bukowski
69. “one can never be sure whether it’s good poetry or bad acid” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
70. “each man’s hell is in a different place: mine is just up and behind my ruined face.” – Charles Bukowski
71. “If you’re losing your soul and you know it, then you’ve still got a soul left to lose” – charles bukowski
72. “being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
73. “I never felt right being alone; sometimes it felt good but it never felt right.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
74. “That was all a man needed: hope. It was lack of hope that discouraged a man.” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
75. “they thought I had guts they were wrong I was only frightened of more important things” – Charles Bukowski
76. “the tired sunsets and the tired people – it takes a lifetime to die and no time at all.” – Charles Bukowski
77. “I never met another man I’d rather be. And even if that’s a delusion, it’s a lucky one.” – Charles Bukowski
78. “My contest is only with myself, to do it right with power and force, delight and gamble.” – Charles Bukowski
79. “Hace falta práctica, un poco de risa y algo de suerte…” – Charles Bukowski, Escritos de un viejo indecente
80. “writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate they stop being writers.” – Charles Bukowski
81. “I’m going, she said. I love you but you’re crazy, you’re doomed.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
82. “stay with the beer. beer is continuous blood. a continuous lover.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
83. “those who escape hell however never talk about it and nothing much bothers them after that.” – Charles Bukowski
84. “the place to find the center is at the edge” – Charles Bukowski, Run With The Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader
85. “some moments are nice, some are nicer, some are even worth writing about.” – Charles Bukowski, War All the Time
86. “I went to the worst of bars hoping to get killed but all I could do was to get drunk again.” – Charles Bukowski
87. “It was like the beginning of life and laughter. It was the real meaning of the sun” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
88. “Do you hate people?” “I don’t hate them…I just feel better when they’re not around.” – Charles Bukowski, Barfly
89. “You have to die a few times before you can really live.” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
90. “I feel strangely normal.” – Charles Bukowski, The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
91. “I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.” – Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
92. “An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.” – Charles Bukowski
93. “they didn’t want to write they wanted to succeed at writing.” – Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems
94. “For each Joan of Arc there is a Hitler perched at the other end of the teeter-totter.” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
95. “We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” – Charles Bukowski
96. “I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.” – Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
97. “Our disappointment sits between us.” – Charles Bukowski, The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966
98. “If there are junk yards in hell, love is the dog that guards the gates.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
99. “we know God is dead, they’ve told us, but listening to you I wasn’t sure.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
100. “love be damned now as love was damned when it first arrived.” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
101. “What is your advice to young writers?” “Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes.” – Charles Bukowski, Hot Water Music
102. “What a woman wants is a reaction. What a man wants is a woman.” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
103. “Some people like what you do, some people hate what you do, but most people simply don’t give a damn.” – Charles Bukowski
104. “Beware Those Who Are ALWAYS READING BOOKS” – Charles Bukowski, The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966
105. “we had such tremendous fun and much agony together for some years” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
106. “regret is mostly caused by not having done anything.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
107. “I thought you were sane,” I said, “but you’re just as crazy as the rest of them.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
108. “You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.” – Charles Bukowski
109. “when the phone rings I too would like to hear words that might ease some of this.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
110. “if you get married they think you’re finished and if you are without a woman they think you’re incomplete.” – Charles Bukowski
111. “I wasn’t lonely. I experienced no self-pity. I was just caught up in a life in which I could find no meaning.” – Charles Bukowski
112. “Se empieza a salvar el mundo salvando a un hombre por vez; todo lo demás es romanticismo grandioso política”.” – Charles Bukowski
113. “People who believe in politics are like people who believe in God: they are sucking wind through bent straws.” – Charles Bukowski
114. “in this land some of us fuck more than we die but most of us die better than we fuck” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
115. “You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
116. “Finally there is nothing here for death to take away.” – Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
117. “What a weary time those years were — to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability.” – Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
118. “I often carry things to read so that I will not have to look at the people.” – Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems
119. “people are not good to each other. perhaps if they were our deaths would not be so sad.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
120. “What foolishness makes us tweak the nose of Death continually?” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
121. “I no longer had to prove that I was a man, I didn’t have to prove anything.” – Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories
122. “I don’t remember going to bed, but in the morning, there I was.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
123. “I’ve had so many knives stuck into me, when they hand me a flower I can’t quite make out what it is. It takes time.” – Charles Bukowski
124. “people run from rain but sit in bathtubs full of water.” – Charles Bukowski, The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966
125. “jan was an excellent fuck…she had a tight pussy and she took it like it was a knife that was killing her.” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
126. “People don’t need love. What they need is success in one form or another. It can be love but it needn’t be.” – Charles Bukowski, Factotum
127. “so it’s always a process of letting go, one way or another” – Charles Bukowski, The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966
128. “People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel or love.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
129. “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.” – Charles Bukowski
130. “When a hot woman meets a hermit one of them is going to change.” – Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
131. “I don’t know about other people, but when I wake up in the morning and put my shoes on, I think, Jesus Christ, now what?” – Charles Bukowski
132. “animals never worry about Heaven or Hell. neither do I. maybe that’s why we get along” – Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems
133. “meidän täytyy tuoda omaa valoamme pimeyteen. kukaan ei tee sitä puolestamme.” – Charles Bukowski, Eläkeläinen Kaliforniasta: Runoja 1984‒1990
134. “having nothing to struggle against they have nothing to struggle for.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
135. “I want so much that is not here and do not know where to go.” – Charles Bukowski, The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966
136. “the worst thing,” he told me, “is bitterness, people end up so bitter.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
137. “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” – Charles Bukowski
138. “some men never die and some men never live but we’re all alive tonight.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
139. “He asked, “What makes a man a writer?” “Well,” I said, “it’s simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge.” – Charles Bukowski
140. “I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
141. “There are times when those eyes inside your brain stare back at you.” – Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
142. “I drive around the streets an inch away from weeping, ashamed of my sentimentality and possible love.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
143. “you boys can keep your virgins give me hot old women in high heels with asses that forgot to get old.” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
144. “Some lose all mind and become soul,insane. some lose all soul and become mind, intellectual. some lose both and become accepted” – Charles Bukowski
145. “A love like that was a serious illness, an illness from which you never entirely recover.” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
146. “Ve son meteliğinle oynamıyorsan para değildir asıl mesele.” – Charles Bukowski, The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
147. “Boring damned people. All over the earth. Propagating more boring damned people. What a horror show. The earth swarmed with them.” – Charles Bukowski
148. “there is always one woman to save you from another and as that woman saves you she makes ready to destroy” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
149. “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, Ham on Rye
150. “she was consumed by 3 simple things: drink, despair, loneliness; and 2 more: youth and beauty” – Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last
151. “Each person is only given so many evenings and each wasted evening is a gross violation against the natural course of your only life.” – Charles Bukowski
152. “I will remember the kisses, our lips raw with love, and how you gave me everything you had and how I offered you what was left of me.” – Charles Bukowski
153. “Now something so sad has hold of us that the breath leaves and we can’t even cry.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
154. “nobody can save you but yourself and you’re worth saving. it’s a war not easily won but if anything is worth winning then this is it.” – Charles Bukowski
155. “And yet women-good women–frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine, I wanted to keep.” – Charles Bukowski, Women
156. “I knew I was strong, and maybe like they said, “crazy.” But I had this feeling inside of me that something real was there.” – Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
157. “there is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock” – Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
158. “Morir en el suelo de la cocina a las siete de la mañana mientras otra gente hace huevos fritos no es tan grave salvo cuando te pasa a ti.” – Charles Bukowski
159. “There are only two things wrong with money: too much or too little.” – Charles Bukowski, The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
160. “We are like roses that have never bothered to bloom when we should have bloomed and it is as if the sun has become disgusted with waiting” – Charles Bukowski
161. “1Morir en el suelo de la cocina a las siete de la mañana mientras otra gente hace huevos fritos no es tan grave salvo cuando te pasa a ti.” – Charles Bukowski
162. “Lighting new cigarettes, pouring more drinks. It has been a beautiful fight. Still is.” – Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
163. “I wish to weep but sorrow is stupid. I wish to believe but belief is a graveyard.” – Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
164. “There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out but I’m too tough for him, I say, stay in there, I’m not going to let anybody see you.” – Charles Bukowski
165. “I have one problem, I don’t hate people. They disgust me and I want to get away from them. I do not have hatred. I have an escape mechanism.” – Charles Bukowski

Wrapping Up

Charles Bukowski is one of the most iconic figures in modern literature. His work has inspired millions of readers around the world, and his words are filled with wisdom and insight. Whether it’s about love, money, or death, Bukowski had something to say about everything. He pushed boundaries with his writing and challenged traditional norms. It is no wonder why so many people still turn to his works decades after they were written. His words continue to resonate and bring comfort to those who read them. For this reason, Bukowski will remain an enduring figure in American literature for many years to come.