“Life's as kind as you let it be.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Love is a form of prejudice. You love what you need, you love what makes you feel good, you love what is convenient. How can you say you love one person when there are ten thousand people in the world that you would love more if you ever met them? But you'll never meet them.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“What is your advice to young writers?”
“Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Never trust a man in a jumpsuit”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Ann, I love you. I hope my car starts. I hope the sink isn't plugged up. I'm glad I didn't fuck a groupie. I'm glad I'm not very good at getting into bed with strange females. I'm glad I'm an idiot. I'm glad I don't know anything. I'm glad I haven't been murdered. When I look at my hands and they are still on my wrists, I think to myself, I am lucky.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“There was nothing glorious about the life of a drinker or the life of a writer.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“If you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“That’s how they hooked you—they gave you just enough to keep alive but they never gave you enough so you could finally escape.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“What is your advice to young writers?"
"Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes."
"What is your advice to older writers?"
"If you're still alive, you don't need any advice."
"What is the impulse that makes you create a poem?"
"What makes you take a shit?”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“But you know, only boring people get bored. They have to prod themselves continually in order to feel alive.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Three a.m. drunks, all over America, were staring at the walls, having finally give it up. You didn't have to be drunk to get hurt, to be zeroed out by a woman; but you could get hurt and become a drunk. You might think for a while, especially when you were young, that luck was with you, and sometimes it was. But there were all manner of averages and laws working that you know nothing about, even as you imagined things were going well. Some night, some hot summer Thursday, night you became the drunk, you were out there alone in a cheap rented room, and no matter how many times you'd been out there before, it was no help, it was even worse because you had got to thinking you wouldn't face it again. All you could do was light another cigarette, pour another drink, check the peeling walls for lips and eyes. What men and women did to each other was beyond comprehension.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Ευφυία είναι η ικανότητα να πεις κάτι βαθυστόχαστο με απλό τρόπο.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“What is your advice to young writers?” “Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes.” “What is your advice to older writers?” “If you’re still alive, you don’t need any advice.” “What is the impulse that makes you create a poem?” “What makes you take a shit?” “What do you think of Reagan and unemployment?” “I don’t think of Reagan or unemployment.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Το πιο δύσκολο πράγμα είναι να μαντέψεις ποια πρέπει να είναι η πρώτη σου κίνηση.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“You know, doctor, wisdom comes at a hell of an hour—when youth is gone, the storm is over and the girls have gone home.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from Hot Water Music
“Man, who thinks he knows everything. But what does man know...Man cares only for himself, in his fear and hate.”
― David Clement-Davies, quote from Fell
“Here you go, dear."" The corners of Mrs. Colbert's mouth curled up. "You like meat, don't you?"
Emily blinked. Was it her, or did that statement seem...loaded? She checked Issac for his reaction, but he was innocently selecting a roll from a wicker basket. "Uh, thanks." Emily said, pulling the platter toward her. She did like meat. The kind you, um, eat.”
― Sara Shepard, quote from Killer
“I wonder if it's suffering."
"What, our generation?"
"The baby!”
― Kenzaburō Ōe, quote from A Personal Matter
“His conviction of having no purpose in life other than to act as a distillation of poison was part of the ego of an eighteen-year-old. He had resolved that his beautiful white hands would never be soiled or calloused. He wanted to be like a pennant, dependent on each gusting wind. The only thing that seemed valid to him was to live for the emotions--gratuitous and unstable, dying only to quicken again, dwindling and flaring without direction or purpose.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from Spring Snow
“Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very, very long time. Think of the gladdest sound you know: the sound of dawn on the first day of spring break, the sound of a bottle of Coke opening, the sound of a crowd cheering in your ears because you're coming down to the last part of a race--and you're ahead. Think of the sound of water over stones in a cold stream, and the sound of wind through green trees on a late May afternoon in Central Park. Think of the sound of a bus coming into the station carrying someone you love.
Then put all those together.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars
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.