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
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.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that true wisdom lies in deviating from conventional beliefs and actions of the masses.
Charles Bukowski's quote emphasizes the notion that popular opinion is often misguided, and that genuine wisdom comes from choosing a different path than the crowd. By reversing the collective mindset formed by societal norms, one can uncover deeper truths and achieve a sense of fulfillment that the masses seek but often miss.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage thinking outside the box.
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.
when I am feeling low all i have to do is watch my cats and my courage returns
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.
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.
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.
He asked, "what makes a man a writer?" "well," I said, "it's simple, it's either you get it down on paper or you jump off a bridge. writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate they stop being writers." "are you desperate?" "I don't know.
With every failure, every crisis, every difficult time, I say - What is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on. If you really get the lesson, you pass and you don't have to repeat the class. _x000D_ _x000D_ My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.
It is often very illuminating...to ask yourself how you got at the facts on which you base your opinion. Who actually saw, heard, felt, counted, named the thing, about which you have an opinion?
Study the past if you want to define the future.
The victories of character are instant, and victories for all.
The man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune sends, and will always make the best of his circumstances.
And what is a man without energy? Nothing - nothing at all.
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