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
since some people had told me that I was ugly, I always preferred shade to the sun, darkness to light
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a deep sense of insecurity and a preference for invisibility over exposure to judgment.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski expresses his feelings of unworthiness stemming from harsh criticism and societal standards of beauty. He metaphorically prefers the comfort of darkness, which offers anonymity and protection from the harsh light of scrutiny, illustrating how negative perceptions can shape one's self-image and choices in life.
Themes
InsecuritiesSelf-ImageDarknessBeautyJudgment
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about self-esteem, I could quote Bukowski to illustrate how external opinions can affect one's self-perception.
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
I have seen miracles in my time, my brothers and sisters. The greatest miracle of all, I believe, is the transformation that comes into the life of a man or a woman who accepts the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and tries to live it in his or her life.
Gordon B. HinckleyRead
Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world.... It was this vision that gave him his great power, for when he went into a fight, he had only to think of that world to be in it again, so that he could go through anything and not be hurt
Black ElkRead
I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning.
Benjamin FranklinRead
I was raised a Christian and was a stone-faced acid head.
Ken KeseyRead
The Christ-symbol is of the greatest importance for psychology in so far as it is perhaps the most highly developed and differentiated symbol of the self, apart from the figure of the Buddha.
Carl JungRead
There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.
Michel De MontaigneRead