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
Sometimes I've called writing a disease. If so, I'm glad that it caught me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing can feel overwhelming or consuming, yet the author is grateful for its influence in their life.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski expresses a paradoxical view of writing, likening it to a disease that infects the writer. This suggests that writing can be a powerful, uncontrollable urge that may lead to both struggle and joy. Bukowski's acknowledgment of being 'glad' about this 'disease' implies that despite its challenges, the act of writing is a vital and rewarding part of his existence, indicating the deep connection a writer has to their craft.
Themes
WritingDiseaseCreativityInspirationArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a writers' workshop, you could use this quote to emphasize the passion and difficulties of writing.
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
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