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 thought you were sane," I said, "but you're just as crazy as the rest of them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that everyone possesses a degree of madness and that what is considered sane is often subjective.
In this quote, Charles Bukowski reflects on the nature of sanity and insanity, implying that the expectations of rationality are often flawed. By claiming that another person, whom he initially thought to be rational, is just as 'crazy' as everyone else, Bukowski points to a universal truth: that we all harbor eccentricities and complexities that challenge conventional notions of sanity.
Themes
SanityMadnessPhilosophyHuman NatureTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about societal norms and mental health during a mental health awareness event.
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.
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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 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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