Quotes from Hollywood

“Are you becoming what you've always hated?”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“I pretend to understand because I don't want anybody to be hurt”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Bad taste makes more millionaires than good taste.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“I didn't like parties.I didn't know how to dance and people frightened me, especially people at parties. They attempted to be sexy and gay and witty and although they hoped they were good at it, they weren 't. They were bad at it. Their trying so hard only made it worse.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Why do you insist upon destroying yourself?”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“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 Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Some nights I knew that if I slept I would die.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“And I said to myself that he was the first thing that I had ever missed in my life.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“YOU HAVE WOUNDED MY HEART FOREVER!”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“People just weren't interesting. Maybe they weren't supposed to be. But animals, birds, even insects were. I couldn't understand it.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Writing was never work for me. It had been the same for as long as I could remember: turn on the radio to a classical music station, light a cigarette or a cigar, open the bottle. The typer did the rest. All I had to do was be there. The whole process allowed me to continue when life itself offered very little, when life itself was a horror show. There was always the typer to soothe me, to talk to me, to entertain me, to save my ass. Basically that's why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“The world had somehow gone too far, and spontaneous kindness could never be so easy.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Money is like sex,' I said. 'It seems much more important when you don't have any...'

'You talk like a writer,' said Francois.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“How are his poems?"
"He's not as good as he thinks he is, but then most of us feel that way.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“المال مثل الجنس، يبدو مهمًا جدًا عندما لا تملك شيئًا منه”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“What will you do?"
"Oh, hell, I'll write a novel about writing the screenplay and making the movie."
"What are you going to call it?"
"Hollywood."
"Hollywood?"
"Yes...”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“I lost almost all the blood in my body in 1957”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“All’s fair in hate and Hollywood.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“It was a sickness: this great interest in a medium that relentlessly and consistently failed, time after time after time, to produce anything at all. People became so used to seeing shit on film that they no longer realized it was shit.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“A mí cada vez que alguien me hablaba me entraban ganas de tirarme por la ventana o de escapar en el ascensor. La gente, simplemente, no me resultaba interesante. Quizá no tenía por qué serlo. Pero los animales, los pájaros, incluso los insectos lo eran. No podía entenderlo.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“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.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Zastanawiałem się czasem, czy moja twórczość nie jest aby adresowana do idiotów? Nie żebym na to mógł cokolwiek poradzić...”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“We went up the Harbor freeway north and then we cut onto the San Diego freeway north. I hated the San Diego freeway. It always jammed. Then I noticed a slight rain beginning to fall.

"That's it," I said, "it's beginning to rain." All the cars were going to stop. California drivers didn't know how to drive in the rain.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“We were in Jon's car. "I have the first part I need. The pain-killer. You see I had to go to a doctor for an ingrown toenail. He operated. Then he gave me a pain-killer afterwards. It worked great..."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see. Anyhow, I had to go back to get the toe checked. I said to the doctor, 'That pain-killer was great, it lasted ten hours. Tell me about it.' He told me about it. Then I asked him, 'Can I see it?' And he took me to this medicine cabinet and pointed it out. 'Very interesting,' I said. We talked a bit more, then I left. But I had a bag with me, a small travelling bag. I left it by the medicine cabinet. Then I left the office, came back. 'Oh,' I told the receptionist, 'I left my bag.' I went to get the bag and there was nobody around. I opened the cabinet and took the pain-killer."
"You can't do this," I told Jon.
"I must, " he answered.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“almost anything upsets or insults a movie audience, while people who read novels and short stories love to be upset and insulted.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“TOMORROW ALWAYS LOOKS THE SAME! THAT’S THE PROBLEM!”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Youth, you son of a bitch, where did you go?”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“Lawyers, doctors, plumbers, they made all the money. Writers? Writers starved. Writers suicided. Writers went mad.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“He was one of those who looked like a genius. I looked like a dishwasher so these types always pissed me just a bit.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

“sometimes there is a dark cloud that never passes. It stays forever!” “Well, that’s death.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hollywood

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Popular quotes

“But these abnormal emotions feel just as valid and realistic as the genuine feelings created by undistorted thoughts, so you automatically attribute truth to them. This is why depression is such a powerful form of mental black magic.”
― David D. Burns, quote from Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

“since I’m still healing from my gunshot wound. That I wear like a badge of honor. My baby gave me this injury. ‘Cause she loves me.”
― April Brookshire, quote from Young Love Murder

“اسمعي يا عزيزتي، إذا خلطتِ بين الشعر والسياسة فستحبلين قبل أن يرف جفنكِ.”
― Antonio Skármeta, quote from The Postman

“A little later, strolling about the town, I, stopped into a shop near the museum, where they sold souvenirs and post-cards. I looked over the cards leisurely; the ones I liked best were soiled and wrinkled. The man, who spoke French fluently, offered to make the cards presentable. He asked me to wait a few minutes while he ran over to the house and cleaned and ironed them. He said he would make them look like new. I was so dumbfounded that before I could say anything he had disappeared, leaving me in charge of the shop. After a few minutes his wife came in. I thought she looked strange for a Greek woman. After a few words had passed I realized that she was French and she, when she learned that I hailed from Paris, was overjoyed to speak with me. We got along beautifully until she began talking about Greece. She hated Crete, she said. It was too dry, too dusty, too hot, too bare. She missed the beautiful trees of Normandy, the gardens with the high walls, the orchards, and so on. Didn't I agree with her? I said NO, flatly. "Monsieur!" she said, rising up in her pride and dignity, as if I had slapped her in the face.

"I don't miss anything," I said, pressing the point home. "I think this is marvellous. I don't like your gardens with their high walls, I don't like your pretty little orchards and your well-cultivated-fields. I like this …" and I pointed outdobrs to the dusty road on which a sorely-laden donkey was plodding along dejectedly. "But it's not civilized," she said, in a sharp, shrill voice which reminded me of the miserly tobacconiste in the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire.

"Je m'en fous da la civilisation européenne!" I blurted out.

"Monsieur!" she said again, her feathers ruffled and her nose turning blue with malice.
Fortunately her husband reappeared at this point with the post-cards which he had given a dry-cleaning.”
― Henry Miller, quote from The Colossus of Maroussi

“At the beginning of her life, she will feel your love. At the end of her life, you will be on her mind. And what happens in between is up to you. Love her extraordinarily. This is the heart of great fathering.”
― quote from Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.