Poem Quotes by Charles Bukowski

“it does seem the more we drink the better the words go.”

— Charles Bukowski

“There is a blue bird in my heart that wants to get out.”

— Charles Bukowski

“the gods play no favorites.”

— Charles Bukowski

I am a poem. There is no way out.

— Charles Bukowski

“she wasn't very interesting but few people are.”

— Charles Bukowski

“sometimes it's hard to know what to do.”

— Charles Bukowski

“regret is mostly caused by not having done anything.”

— Charles Bukowski

“the gods seldom give but so quickly take.”

— Charles Bukowski

“the price of creation is never too high. the price of living with other people always is.”

— Charles Bukowski

Sweet Christ, you must know that a man will go further for any poem than for any woman ever born.

— Charles Bukowski

I am aware that a computer can’t create a poem, but neither can a typewriter.

— Charles Bukowski

“sometimes all we need to be able to continue alone are the dead rattling the walls that close us in.”

— Charles Bukowski

“I found the best thing I could do was just to type away at my own work and let the dying die…

— Charles Bukowski

“one doesn't even think of the liver and if the liver doesn't think of us, that's fine.”

— Charles Bukowski

Bad poetry is caused by people who sit down and think, Now I am going to write a Poem.

— Charles Bukowski

“the worst thing," he told me, "is bitterness, people end up so bitter.”

— Charles Bukowski

“I paid, got up, walked to the door, opened it. I heard the man say, "that guy's nuts." out on the street…

— Charles Bukowski

“the world is better without them. only the plants and the animals are true comrades. I drink to them and with them.”

— Charles Bukowski

“when I drive the freeways I see the soul of humanity of my city and it's ugly, ugly, ugly: the living have…

— Charles Bukowski

“I see a bright portion under the overhead light that shades into darkness and then into darker darkness and I can't see…

— Charles Bukowski

that your power of command with simple language was one of the magnificent things of our century. (from the poem: result)

— Charles Bukowski

“and I can still write a poem (sometimes), don’t forget that, and even if they don’t pay off, it’s better than waiting…

— Charles Bukowski

“when you're young a pair of female high-heeled shoes just sitting alone in the closet can fire your bones; when you're old…

— Charles Bukowski

“also, the oldest notion still in vogue is that if you can’t understand a poem then it almost certainly is a good…

— Charles Bukowski

“darkness falls upon Humanity and faces become terrible things that wanted more than there was. all our days are marked with unexpected…

— Charles Bukowski

“as long as there are human beings about there is never going to be any peace for any individual upon this earth…

— Charles Bukowski

“we are burning like a chicken wing left on the grill of an outdoor barbecue we are unwanted and burning we are…

— Charles Bukowski

“when Whitman wrote, “I sing the body electric” I know what he meant I know what he wanted: to be completely alive…

— Charles Bukowski

“girls please give your bodies and your lives to the young men who deserve them besides there is no way I would…

— Charles Bukowski

“all theories like cliches shot to hell, all these small faces looking up beautiful and believing; I wish to weep but sorrow…

— Charles Bukowski

“sometimes when everything seems at its worst when all conspires and gnaws and the hours, days, weeks years seem wasted – stretched…

— Charles Bukowski

“when we were kids laying around the lawn on our bellies we often talked about how we'd like to die and we…

— Charles Bukowski

“The dead do not need aspirin or sorrow, I suppose. but they might need rain. not shoes but a place to walk.…

— Charles Bukowski

“unaccountably we are alone forever alone and it was meant to be that way, it was never meant to be any other…

— Charles Bukowski

“I didn't know who to believe but one thing I do know: when a man is living many claim relationships that are…

— Charles Bukowski

“she slammed the door and was gone. I looked at the closed door and at the doorknob and strangely I didn't feel…

— Charles Bukowski

“it is so dark now with the sadness of people they were tricked, they were taught to expect the ultimate when nothing…

— Charles Bukowski