I can never drive my car over a bridge without thinking of suicide. I can never look at a lake or an ocean without thinking of suicide.
Charles BukowskiRead
When you clean up a city, you destroy it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cleaning up a city can erase its unique character and history.
Charles Bukowski's quote suggests that efforts to 'clean up' a city often lead to the loss of its authentic essence and individuality. The act of modernization or tidying can strip away the very attributes that give a place its identity and vibrancy, turning it into a sterile version of itself rather than preserving its distinct cultural and historical richness.
Themes
CityCleaningHistoryCharacterIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
During a city council meeting discussing urban renewal.
More from Charles Bukowski
All quotes →when I am feeling low all i have to do is watch my cats and my courage returns
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The masses are always wrong...Wisdom is doing everything the crowd does not do. All you do is reverse the totality of their learning and you have the heaven they're looking for.
Charles BukowskiRead
I'm going to open another vottle. not a vottle, but a bottle. you open it and I'll drink it. and you try to write as much as I did without falling off of your chair.
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To experience real agony is something hard to write about, impossible to understand while it grips you; you're frightened out of your wits, can’t sit still, move, or even go decently insane.
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I lapsed into my pathetic cut-off period. Often with humans, both good and bad, my senses simply shut off, they get tired, I give up. I am polite. I nod. I pretend to understand because I don’t want anybody to be hurt. That is the one weakness that has lead me into the most trouble. Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta. No matter. My brain shuts off. I listen. I respond. And they are too dumb to know that I am not there.
Charles BukowskiRead
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