“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. It's the only good fight there is.”
More from Charles Bukowski
“I could never accept life as it was, I could never gobble down all its poisons but there…”
“It’s when you hide things that you choke on them.”
“It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it.”
“'Have you ever been in love?' 'Love is for real people.'”