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
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Intelligent individuals often question themselves, while less knowledgeable people tend to be overconfident.
This quote by Charles Bukowski highlights a paradox in human nature where those with intelligence and awareness recognize the complexities of life and often doubt their own understanding, while those with less insight might confidently assert their views without the same level of critical thinking. It suggests that wisdom breeds hesitation, while ignorance can lead to unfounded confidence, revealing the irony in how knowledge affects self-perception.
Themes
IntelligenceConfidenceDoubtWisdomIgnorance
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a discussion about the nature of intelligence at a public seminar.
More from Charles Bukowski
All quotes βwhen 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, canβt 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 donβt 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
Something of the hermit's temper is an essential element in many forms of excellence, since it enables men to resist the lure of popularity, to pursue important work in spite of general indifference or hostility, and arrive at opinions which are opposed to prevalent errors.
Bertrand RussellRead
Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.
Marcel ProustRead
Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.
Mahatma GandhiRead
There is no short-cut no patent tram-road, to wisdom. After all the centuries of invention, the soul's path lies through the thorny wilderness which must still be trodden in solitude, with bleeding feet, with sobs for help, as it was trodden by them of old time.
George EliotRead
Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.
Benjamin FranklinRead
Owing to some peculiarity in my nervous system, I have perception of some things, which no one else has; or at least very few, if any... I can throw rays from every quarter of the universe into one vast focus.
Ada LovelaceRead