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
2 p.m. beer nothing matters but flopping on a mattress with cheap dreams and a beer as the leaves die and the horses die and the landladies stare in the halls; brisk the music of pulled shades, a last man's cave in an eternity of swarm and explosion; nothing but the dripping sink, the empty bottle, euphoria, youth fenced in, stabbed and shaven, taught words propped up to die.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the transient nature of life, youth, and the inevitability of decay amid moments of fleeting pleasure.
In this evocative quote, Charles Bukowski paints a picture of the struggle between the ephemeral joys of youth and the harsh realities of existence. He juxtaposes the seemingly trivial pleasures of beer and dreaming with the somber backdrop of death and decay, illustrating how moments of euphoria are often surrounded by a sense of despair and futility. The imagery of a 'last man's cave' captures the essence of isolation and resignation in a world full of chaos, highlighting the bittersweet nature of life where moments of happiness are overshadowed by the inevitability of loss and the emptiness that follows.
Themes
LifeYouthDecayPleasureDespairBukowski
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the fleeting nature of youth, I might quote Bukowski to emphasize the inevitability of decay.
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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