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
Human relationships didn't work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death--in a cesspool.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human relationships tend to start with excitement but often deteriorate into negativity as true personalities emerge.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski expresses a cynical view of human relationships, indicating that the initial thrill of a new connection quickly fades, revealing the darker aspects of human nature. He suggests that modern society fosters toxic interactions, leading to a brutal competition among people who unveil their true, often unpleasant, selves once the initial facade wears off.
Themes
RelationshipsHuman NatureCynicismSocietyToxicity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the fleeting nature of modern friendships, this quote can illustrate the inevitable decline of initial excitement.
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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