Quotes from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I often carry things to read
so that I will not have to look at
the people.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“animals never worry about Heaven or Hell. neither do I. maybe that's why we get along”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I tell you such fine music waits in the shadows of hell.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“writing about a writer's block is better than not writing at all”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I could read the great books but the great books don't interest me.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“people see so many movies that when they finally see one not so bad as the others, they think it's great. an Academy Award means that you don't stink quite as much as your cousin.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“young or old, good or bad, I don't think anything dies as slow and as hard as a writer.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“great books are the ones we need”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“not writing is not good but trying to write when you can't is worse.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I was so thin I could slice bread with my shoulderblades, only I seldom had bread”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I was fairly poor
but most of my money went
for wine and
classical music.
I loved to mix the two
together.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“there was a soldier in the next room living with his wife and he would soon be going over there to protect me from Hitler so I snapped the radio off and then heard his wife say, "you shouldn't have done that." and the soldier said, "FUCK THAT GUY!" which I thought was a very nice thing for him to tell his wife to do. of course, she never did.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“people are worn away with striving, they hide in common habits. their concerns are herd concerns. few have the ability to stare at an old shoe for ten minutes or to think of odd things like who invented the doorknob? they become unalive because they are unable to pause undo themselves unkink unsee unlearn roll clear. listen to their untrue laughter, then walk away.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“death is walking
up and down
this room
smoking my cigars
taking hits of my
wine”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“of one hundred movies there's one that is fair, one that's good and ninety eight that are very bad. most movies start badly and steadily get worse”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“a bird no one wants. he’s mine. my bird of pain. he doesn’t sing. that bird swaying on the bough.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“if I had a book or a drink then I didn’t think too much of other things—fools create their own paradise.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“alone tonight in this house, alone with 6 cats who tell me without effort all that there is to know.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“But you know, my former life as a bibliophile, it possibly kept me from murdering somebody, myself included. it kept me from being an industrialist. it allowed me to endure some women that most men would never be able to live with. it gave me space, a pause. it helped me to write this.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I often carry things to read so that I will not have to look at the people.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I look like a man in a death camp.
I
am.

still, I'm lucky: I feat on solitude, I
will never miss the crowd.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“Living too long takes more than time”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“they thought that writing had
something to do with
the politics of the
thing.

they were simply not
crazy enough
in the head
to sit down to a
typer
and let the words bang
out.

they didn't want to
write
they wanted to
succeed at
writing.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“another hot summer night as I sit here and play at being a writer again. and the worst thing of course is that the words will never truly break through for any of us. some nights I have taken the sheet out of the typer and held it over the cigarette lighter, flicked it and waited for the result.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“is there any wonder why the world is where it’s at now? just notice the creature sitting near you in a movie house or standing ahead of you in a supermarket line. or giving a State of the Union Address. that the gods have let us go on this long this badly.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“as a very young man I divided an equal amount of time between the bars and the libraries; how I managed to provide for my other ordinary needs is the puzzle; well, I simply didn’t bother too much with that— if I had a book or a drink then I didn’t think too much of other things—fools create their own paradise.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“it is a fine sunny day and great matters loom across the horizon of history. Carthage in my rearview mirror, I blend into Time.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems

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