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
I am this fiery snail crawling home.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the struggle of navigating life's journey, combining determination with the slow, steady progress of a snail.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski uses the imagery of a 'fiery snail' to convey the duality of human experience—feeling both passionate and slow-moving in the pursuit of one's goals. It highlights the idea that, despite the inherent challenges and the sometimes sluggish pace of life, one continues to strive for a sense of belonging or 'home,' embodying both resilience and the struggle against adversity.
Themes
LifeJourneyStruggleDeterminationHome
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to inspire students about their futures.
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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There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.
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