A love like that was a serious illness, an illness from which you never entirely recover.
Charles BukowskiIf I'm an ass, I should say so. If I don't, somebody else will. If I say it first, that disarms them.
Charles BukowskiThat was the trouble with being a writer, that was the main trouble—leisure time, excessive leisure time. You had to wait around for the buildup until you could write and while you were waiting you went crazy, and while you were going crazy you drank and the more you drank the crazier you got.
Charles BukowskiIntellectuals say simple things in difficult ways. Artists say difficult things in simple ways.
Charles BukowskiThe pest, in a sense, is a very superior being to us: he knows where to find us and how--usually in the bath or in sexual intercourse or asleep.
Charles BukowskiAnd if there is anybody out there who is crazy enough to want to become a writer, I'd say go ahead, spit in the eye of the sun, hit those keys, it's the best madness going, the centuries need help, the species cry for light and gamble and laughter. Give it to them. There are enough words for all of us.
Charles Bukowski