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 problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Interpretation
Intelligent individuals often question themselves, while less knowledgeable people tend to be overconfident.
This quote by Charles Bukowski highlights a paradox in human nature where those with intelligence and awareness recognize the complexities of life and often doubt their own understanding, while those with less insight might confidently assert their views without the same level of critical thinking. It suggests that wisdom breeds hesitation, while ignorance can lead to unfounded confidence, revealing the irony in how knowledge affects self-perception.
In practice
Use this quote during a discussion about the nature of intelligence at a public seminar.
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
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.
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, canβt 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 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.
Hold your powers together for something good and let everything go that is for you without result and is not suited to you.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.
Beware of those who weep with realization, for they have realized nothing.
Sometimes when things seem to be going wrong, they are going right for reasons you are yet to understand.
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages
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