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
This is a world where everybody’s gotta do something. Ya know, somebody laid down this rule that everybody’s gotta do something, they gotta be something. You know, a dentist, a glider pilot, a narc, a janitor, a preacher, all that . . . Sometimes I just get tired of thinking of all the things that I don’t wanna do. All the things that I don’t wanna be. Places I don’t wanna go, like India, like getting my teeth cleaned. Save the whale, all that, I don’t understand that . . .
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the pressure to conform to societal expectations and the exhaustion of striving for roles we may not desire.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski expresses the frustration of having to engage in roles and responsibilities that society imposes on individuals. He highlights a sense of weariness towards the endless list of duties and identities that one feels obligated to assume, hinting at a yearning for authenticity and personal freedom. Bukowski's candid remarks suggest a rejection of societal norms that dictate what one should do or be, emphasizing a deeper existential contemplation about the choices one makes in life.
Themes
SocietyIdentityExpectationsFreedomAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about societal pressures, one could introduce this quote to reflect the weight of expectations.
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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