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
Dying should come easy: like a freight train you don't hear when your back is turned.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that death should be as unremarkable and sudden as a freight train, emphasizing the inevitability and suddenness of life’s end.
This quote by Charles Bukowski reflects on the nature of death as an inescapable part of life that should arrive quietly and unexpectedly, much like a freight train that one does not notice until it is too late. It implies that death, rather than being a dramatic or fearful event, should be accepted as a natural occurrence that can come upon us when we are least prepared. The imagery evoked is powerful, highlighting both the unpredictability and the silent permanence of mortality.
Themes
DeathAcceptanceMortalityLifeInevitability
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a eulogy to emphasize the unforeseen nature of death.
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.
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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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