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 was glad I wasn't in love, that I wasn't happy with the world. I like being at odds with everything. People in love often become edgy, dangerous. They lose their sense of perspective. They lose their sense of humor. They become nervous, psychotic bores. They even become killers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a disdain for being in love, suggesting that it leads to a loss of perspective and a negative change in personality.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski articulates a cynical view on love, indicating that it can provoke emotional instability and a loss of humor or rationality in individuals. He highlights the potential destructive qualities of love, suggesting that it can make people overly serious and even dangerous, thus providing a critical perspective on romantic relationships.
Themes
LovePerspectiveHumorRelationshipsDangerousCynicism
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of relationships, this quote can illustrate the darker side of love.
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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