Charles Bukowski

There's nothing to mourn about death any more than there is to mourn about the growing of a flower. What is terrible is not death but the lives people live or don't live up until their death.

I wasn't lonely. Loneliness, I think, has very little to do with location. It's a state of mind. In the center of every city are some of the loneliest people in the world. They are lonely because they are afraid to make contact with people around them.

I don't know about other people, but when I wake up in the morning and put my shoes on, I think, Jesus Christ, now what?

To do a dull thing with style-now that's what I call art.

I don't hate people. I just feel better when they aren't around.

What's the difference between a whore and a bitch? A whore sleeps with everyone at the party, and a bitch sleeps with everyone at the party except you.

I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.

I've had so many knives stuck into me, when they hand me a flower I can't quite make out what it is. It takes time.

Find what you love and let it kill you.

I'm not a misanthrope, I like people, but I like them in short doses. I'm okay with being alone.

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.