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
my hands dead my heart dead silence adagio of rocks the world ablaze that's the best for me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the profound feeling of emptiness and resignation amidst chaos and destruction.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski evokes a sense of deep apathy and detachment, suggesting a state where both physical and emotional vitality have faded away. The imagery of 'hands dead' and 'heart dead' conveys a stark resignation to life’s harsh realities, while 'silence adagio of rocks' evokes a melancholic acceptance of a world filled with turmoil, further reinforced by 'the world ablaze.' Through this juxtaposition, Bukowski ultimately asserts that this desolate state is ironically considered the best outcome for him.
Themes
ApathyResignationChaosEmptinessTurmoil
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about overcoming life's challenges, one might reference this quote to illustrate the feeling of surrender during tough times.
More from Charles Bukowski
All quotes →when I am feeling low all i have to do is watch my cats and my courage returns
Charles BukowskiRead
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.
Charles BukowskiRead
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.
Charles BukowskiRead
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
Similar quotes
They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.
William GoldingRead
Everyone had told her, since she became a princess-in-training, that she was very likely the most beautiful woman in the world. Now she was going to be the richest and the most powerful as well. Don't expect too much from life, Buttercup told herself as she rode along. Learn to be satisfied with what you have.
William GoldmanRead
Gemma, you see how it is. They've planned our entire lives, from what we shall wear to whom we shall marry and where we shall live. It's one lump of sugar in your tea whether you like it or not and you'd best smile even if you're dying deep inside. We're like pretty horses, and just as on horses, they mean to put blinders on us so we can't look left or right but only straight ahead where they would lead. Please, please, please, Gemma, let's not die inside before we have to.
Libba BrayRead
I focus on very few things in life - my work, my family, my friends. Those things are important to me and I pay good attention to them, and everything else just comes and goes.
Masai UjiriRead
joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . together they come and when one sits alone with you . . remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Khalil GibranRead
Sometimes we become so focused on the finish line, that we fail to find joy in the journey.
Dieter F. UchtdorfRead