Bukowski quotes: Finding inspiration and truth in the words of Charles Bukowski

Find what you love and let it kill you. – Charles Bukowski

I wasn’t born with enough middle fingers to let you know how I feel. – 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

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

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. – Charles Bukowski

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. – Charles Bukowski

If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. – Charles Bukowski

You have to die a few times before you can really live. – Charles Bukowski

The more you try to impress, the more you become depressed, and the more they get tired of your act. – 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

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. – 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 shortest distance between two points is often unbearable. – Charles Bukowski

The less I needed, the better I felt. – Charles Bukowski

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind. – Charles Bukowski

I always wanted to be a writer and nothing else. Everything else was boring. – Charles Bukowski

I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they aren’t around. – Charles Bukowski

What matters most is how well you walk through the fire. – Charles Bukowski

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. – Charles Bukowski

Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be? – Charles Bukowski

I don’t believe in yesterday, by the way. – 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 wasn’t much of a petty thief. I wanted the whole world or nothing. – Charles Bukowski

An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose. – Charles Bukowski

The less I needed, the better I felt. – 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

I wanted the whole world or nothing. – Charles Bukowski

What is true is always beautiful. – Charles Bukowski

Some lose all mind and become soul, insane; some lose all soul and become mind, intellectual; some lose both and become accepted. – Charles Bukowski

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. – Charles Bukowski

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. – Charles Bukowski

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

I don’t believe in yesterday, by the way. – Charles Bukowski

There is always one woman to save you from another and as that woman saves you she makes ready to destroy. – Charles Bukowski

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. – Charles Bukowski

You have to die a few times before you can really live. – Charles Bukowski

Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be? – Charles Bukowski

What matters most is how well you walk through the fire. – Charles Bukowski

Don’t try. – Charles Bukowski

If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. – Charles Bukowski

The less I needed, the better I felt. – 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

People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel or love. – Charles Bukowski

Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way. – Charles Bukowski

There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth. – Charles Bukowski

You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. – Charles Bukowski

There are two types of people in the world: those who prefer to be sad among others, and those who prefer to be sad alone. – Charles Bukowski

I wasn’t much of a petty thief. I wanted the whole world or nothing. – Charles Bukowski

I always wanted to be a writer and nothing else. Everything else was boring. – Charles Bukowski

I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they aren’t around. – Charles Bukowski