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Charles Bukowski

219 quotesPoet · Born Aug 16, 1920 · Died Mar 9, 1994 · American · Male

Henry Charles Bukowski (born Heinrich Karl Bukowski; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-born American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. His work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over 60 books. The FBI kept a file on him as a result of his column, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, in the LA underground newspaper Open City. In 1986 Time called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife". Regarding Bukowski's enduring popular appeal, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker wrote, "the secret of Bukowski's appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet's promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero." 2Life 3Family and early years Charles Bukowski was born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Andernach, Germany, to Heinrich (Henry) Bukowski, a German-American in the U.S. army of occupation after World War I who remained in Germany after his army service, and Katharina (née Fett). His paternal grandfather Leonard Bukowski, an ethnic German, had immigrated to America from the German Empire in the 1880

All Love (53)Life (23)Relationships (14)Poetry (13)Writing (12)romance (11)Alone (10)Desire (8)Pain (8)poem (7)Happiness (7)Perspective (6)Relationship (6)Intimacy (6)Loneliness (6)

From “The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship”

I stopped looking for a Dream Girl, I just wanted one that wasn't a nightmare.

Love Finding The Right Person dream girl finding the dream girl real love

People empty me. I have to get away to refill.

We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.

Death Love War Fear Human Struggles

We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't.

Death Life The Human Condition Living Loving Each Other

From “Ham On Rye”

I heard an airplane passing overhead. I wished I was on it.

Airplane Wish

The best thing about the bedroom was the bed. I liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with covers pulled up to my chin. It was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing.

Isolation

The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little bit more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing…

Apathy The Human Condition Existentialism Choices Angsty Poetry

From “Pulp ”

It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it.

Life Sucks Pessimism H4D-40

It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it.

bad experience Negative

It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it.

Unfortunate Misery

I decided to stay in bed until noon. Maybe by then half the world would be dead and it would only be half as hard to take.

Tired Bed Sleep

If you persisted long enough, the good luck usually came. Most people couldn't wait on the luck, though, so they quit.

Persistence Luck Waiting Patience Determination

From “Notes Of A Dirty Old Man”

Being together is the miracle, being together and caring. Sleeping together, feet touching, legs touching. Being asleep and together.

Love and Passion Intimate Being With Someone

I am not a snob; it is simply that I am not interested with what most people have to say, or what they want to do — mostly with my time.

Nonchalance Snob Uninterested Relationship

did she love you? only as an extension of herself. what else can love be?

Love Love And The Ego Self-Concept Falling In Love Relationships

To be young is the only religion.

Youth Being Young Religion Lifestyle

From “What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through The Fire”

Things get bad for all of us, almost continually, and what we do under the constant stress reveals who/what we are.

Overcoming Challenges Managing Stress managing life Personality Identity

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

Problems Challenges Handling Problems

the whole world is caught in her glance and at last the universe is magnificent.

Love Perspective Lust Adoration

I remember awakening one morning and finding everything smeared with the color of forgotten love.

Love Nostalgia Pain Lost Love

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