1,615 Quotes by Charles Bukowski

I want so much that is not here and do not know where to go.

And there I was, 225 pounds, perpetually lost and confused, short legs, ape-like upper body, all chest, no neck, head too large, blurred eyes, hair uncombed, 6 feet of geek, waiting for her.

I needed a vacation. I needed 5 women. I needed to get the wax out of my ears. My car needed an oil change. I'd failed to file my damned income tax. One of the stems had broken off of my reading glasses. There were ants in my apartment. I needed to get my teeth cleaned. My shoes were run down at the heels. I had insomnia. My auto insurance had expired. I cut myself every time i shaved. I hadn't laughed in 6 years. I tended to worry when there was nothing to worry about. And when there was something to worry about, i got drunk.

...in that drunken place you would like to hand your heart to her and say touch it but then give it back.

and even the trees we walked under seemed less than trees and more like everything else.

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.

The centuries are sprinkled with rare magic with divine creatures who help us get past the common and extraordinary ills that beset us

They swallow God without thinking, they swallow country without thinking. Soon they forget how to think, they let others think for them.

people run from rain but sit in bathtubs full of water.