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
I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn't have a god, politics, ideas, ideals.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the speaker's attraction to negative or unproductive habits and influences.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski candidly reveals his personal struggles with vices and a disconnection from meaningful pursuits in life. It illustrates a sense of self-awareness and vulnerability, acknowledging a tendency to gravitate towards harmful habits rather than positive or fulfilling ones, prompting reflection on what truly matters in one's existence.
Themes
VicesSelf-AwarenessHabitsReflectionLife Choices
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech discussing the importance of making better life choices.
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
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The awakening of the soul to its bondage and its effort to stand up and assert itself - this is called life.
Swami VivekanandaRead
I would sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced. Were it possible for a man always to sorrow and yet to be pure, I would choose the sorrow if I might win the purity, for to be free from the power of sin, to be made to love holiness, is true happiness.
Charles SpurgeonRead