By Welcome to the wild, wild world of Charles Bukowski—a literary rebel who fearlessly transformed American life’s gritty, everyday struggles into raw and gripping art. Bukowski, a master of novels, poetry, and short stories, danced with words in the shadowy corners of society, capturing the essence of alcoholics, the magnetic allure of sex workers, the despair of those who’ve lost at gambling, and the crazy rollercoaster of human relationships.
His pen was like a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through the ordinary and profound with equal enthusiasm. Controversial? You bet. A bit of a fierce, womanizing character with a love for booze and cigarettes? Absolutely. But boring? Never. Beneath that tough exterior was a writer who could navigate life’s absurdities with a laugh, a frown, and sometimes both. So, get ready because here come the most unforgettable Bukowski quotes. Let’s see if Buk can make you grin, ponder, or perhaps even squirm a little.
Best Charles Bukowski Quotes
Find what you love and let it kill you.
Charles Bukowski
Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Charles Bukowski
We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t.
Charles Bukowski
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Charles Bukowski
Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.
Charles Bukowski
I wanted the whole world or nothing.
Charles Bukowski
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.
Charles Bukowski
I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they aren’t around.
Charles Bukowski
Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.”
Charles Bukowski
I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn’t have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. I was settled into nothingness; a kind of non-being, and I accepted it. I didn’t make for an interesting person. I didn’t want to be interesting, it was too hard. What I really wanted was only a soft, hazy space to live in, and to be left alone.
Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski Quotes Love
We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t.
Charles Bukowski
An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.
Charles Bukowski
My dear, find what you love and let it kill you.
Charles Bukowski
What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.
Charles Bukowski
I never met another man I’d rather be. And even if that’s a delusion, it’s a lucky one.
Charles Bukowski
I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.
Charles Bukowski
Love is a form of prejudice. You love what you need, you love what makes you feel good, you love what is convenient.
Charles Bukowski
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
Charles Bukowski
Love is all right for those who can handle the psychic overload. It’s like trying to carry a full garbage can on your back over a rushing river of piss.
Charles Bukowski
Love is a horse with a broken leg, life is a banquet with the cops all round. To hell, to hell with balance! I break glasses; I want to burn, even if I break myself. I want to live only for ecstasy.
Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski’s Quotes On Women
Bad luck for the young poet would be a rich father, an early marriage, an early success, or the ability to do anything well.
Charles Bukowski
I was sentimental about many things: a woman’s shoes under the bed; one hairpin left behind on the dresser; the way they said, ‘I’m going to pee.
Charles Bukowski
An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.
Charles Bukowski
What a woman does is open doors, make things easier, tenderness and luck. Who would want to be without at least one woman? I don’t see how anybody could trust those men who say they don’t need women. I think they’re fools or liars or both.
Charles Bukowski
I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.
Charles Bukowski
If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs. And maybe your mind.
Charles Bukowski
If you’re losing your soul and you know it, then you’ve still got a soul left to lose.
Charles Bukowski
She’s mad but she’s magic. There’s no lie in her fire.
Charles Bukowski
An intellectual is a man who says a simple thing in a difficult way; an artist is a man who says a difficult thing in a simple way.
Charles Bukowski
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Charles Bukowski
Inspirational Quotes Charles Bukowski
“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.
Charles Bukowski
We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
Charles Bukowski
If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.
Charles Bukowski
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.
Charles Bukowski
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
Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.
Charles Bukowski
You have to die a few times before you can really live.
Charles Bukowski
If you’re losing your soul and you know it, then you’ve still got a soul left to lose.
Charles Bukowski
There’s nothing to mourn about death any more than there is to mourn about the growing of a flower. What is terrible is not death but the lives people live or don’t live up until their death.
Charles Bukowski
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski Quotes Loneliness
- “That’s the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens, you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens, you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens, you drink to make something happen.”
- “I was never lonely. Was the big difference.”
- “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
- “People empty me. I have to get away to refill.”
- “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?”
- “An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”
- “I’ve never been lonely. I’ve been in a room—I’ve felt suicidal. I’ve been depressed. I’ve felt awful—awful beyond all—but I never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me…or that any number of people could enter that room. In other words, loneliness is something I’ve never been bothered with because I’ve always had this terrible itch for solitude.”
- “It’s so easy to be a poet and so hard to be a man.”
- “If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.”
- “I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they aren’t around.”
I hope you had a blast diving into Bukowski’s world through his quotes—I sure did while picking them out! Don’t forget to explore our other quote collections for more literary escapades and pearls of wisdom. Catch you there!
