QuoteProject
The wisdom to quit is all we have left.
Charles Bukowski
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Knowing when to give up can be a form of wisdom and self-preservation.

This quote by Charles Bukowski emphasizes the importance of recognizing when it may be best to walk away from a situation rather than continuing to fight a losing battle. It suggests that sometimes, the choice to quit is a valuable insight and can lead to better outcomes in the long run.

Themes

WisdomQuitUnderstandingChoices

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be shared in a discussion about personal growth and learning from experiences.

More from Charles Bukowski

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
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

In my years, I have seen that people must be their own gods and make their own good fortune. The bad will come or not come anyway.
Octavia ButlerRead
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
Warren BuffettRead
When learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven't got any.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment 'as to the Lord.' It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.
C. S. LewisRead
You know, many people have said that I'm on the edge and I'm maverick for some of the big operations that I've done. I'm not at all. I pray; I ask God to give me wisdom, 'Should I do it?', guidance in terms of how to do it, who to consult with. All those kind of things are incredibly important.
Benjamin CarsonRead
Loving ourselves opens us to truly knowing ourselves as part of the matrix of existence, inextricably connected to the boundlessness of life... when we see that we are far bigger than the person that is delineated by family or cultural expectations, we realize we are capable of so much more than we usually dare to imagine.
Sharon SalzbergRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.