South of No North Quotes

“Like anybody can tell you, I am not a very nice man. I don't know the word. I have
always admired the villain, the outlaw, the son of a bitch. I don't like the clean-shaven
boy with the necktie and the good job. I like desperate men, men with broken teeth
and broken minds and broken ways. They interest me. They are full of surprises and
explosions. I also like vile women, drunk cursing bitches with loose stockings and
sloppy mascara faces. I'm more interested in perverts than saints. I can relax with
bums because I am a bum. I don't like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don't like to be
shaped by society.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“My objection to war was not that I had to kill somebody or be killed senselessly, that hardly mattered. What I objected to was to be denied the right to sit in a small room and starve and drink cheap wine and go crazy in my own way and at my own leisure.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“I'm too careless. I don't put out enough effort. I'm tired.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Thirty- eight years old and he was finished. He sipped at the coffee and remembered where he had gone wrong -- or right. He'd simply gotten tired -- of the insurance game, of the small offices and high glass partitions, the clients; he'd simply gotten tired of cheating on his wife, of squeezing secretaries in the elevator and in the halls;
he'd gotten tired of Christmas parties and New Year's parties and birthdays, and payments on new cars and furniture payments -- light, gas, water -- the whole bleeding complex of necessities.
He'd gotten tired and quit, that's all. The divorce came soon enough and the drinking came soon enough, and suddenly he was out of it. He had nothing, and he found out that having nothing was difficult too. It was another type of burden. If only there were some gentler road in between. It seemed a man only had two choices -- get in on the hustle or be a bum.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Her eyes always had a frantic, lost look. He could never cure her eyes of that.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“She drove with the throttle to the floor and took the curves sliding and screeching and without expression. That was class. If she loved like she drove it was going to be a hell of a night.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“What were you going to do tonight?"
"I was going to listen to the songs of Rachmaninoff."
"Who's that?"
"A dead Russian.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Hospitals and jails and whores: these are the universities of life. I’ve got several degrees. Call me Mr.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“So tired you want to quit, then you get more tired, and forget to quit.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“She made the same money in ten minutes that I had made in a day with some hours thrown in. Monetarily speaking, it seemed sure as shit you were better off having a pussy than a cock.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Zircoff," I said, "put the tomatoes away."
"Piss," he said, "I wish they were hand grenades.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“The public is fortunate. Everything pleases them: icecream cones, rock concerts, singing, swinging, love, hate, masturbation, hot dogs, country dances, Jesus Christ, roller skating, spiritualism, capitalism, communism, circumcision, comic strips, Bob Hope, skiing, fishing murder bowling debating, anything. They don’t expect much and they don’t get much. They are one grand gang.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“The kids sit about sipping at their coffees and waiting for it to happen. It isn’t going to happen.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“America had been taught that beauty only resided in youth, especially in the
female.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Никой не страда повече, отколкото трябва.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Después de todo ¿por qué era necesario amar a un ser humano? Nunca duraba mucho. Había demasiadas diferencias entre cada individuo, y lo que empezaba siendo amor acababa siempre en guerra despiadada”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Kimsenin ıstırabı olması gerekenden fazla değildir.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“I always disliked pledging allegiance to the flag. It was so tedious and sillyass. I always felt more like pledging allegiance to myself, but there we were and we stood up and ran through it. Then, afterwards, the little pause, and everybody sitting down feeling as if they had been slightly molested.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“I did sometimes get emotional. I remember one time in class, after a little too much wine, with a tear in each eye, I said, “I promise you, this will hardly be the last war. As soon as one enemy is eliminated somehow another is found. It’s endless and meaningless. There’s no such thing as a good war or a bad war.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“You know, sometimes if a man doesn’t believe in what he is doing he can do a much more interesting job because he isn’t emotionally caught up in his Cause. It wasn’t long before all the tall blond boys had formed The Abraham Lincoln Brigade—to hold off the hordes of fascism in Spain. And then had their asses shot off by trained troops. Some of them did it for adventure and a trip to Spain but they still got their asses shot off. I liked my ass. There really wasn’t much I liked about myself but I did like my ass and my pecker.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Like anybody can tell you, I am not a very nice man. I don't know the word. I have always admired the villain, the outlaw, the son of a bitch.

I don't like the clean-shaven boy with the necktie and the good job. I like desperate men, men with broken teeth and broken minds and broken ways.

They interest me, they are full of surprises and explosions.

I also like vile women, drunk cursing bitches with loose stockings and sloppy mascara faces.

I'm more interested in perverts than saints.

I can relax with bums because I am a bum.

I don't like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don't like to be shaped by society.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“I remembered a story I had read in the Racing Form once about a high-bred stallion they couldn’t get to mate with the mares. They got the most beautiful mares they could find, but the stallion only shied away. Then somebody, who knew something, got an idea. He smeared mud all over a beautiful mare and the stallion immediately mounted her. The theory was that the stallion felt inferior to all the beauty and when it was muddied-up, fouled, he at least felt equal or maybe even superior. Horses’ minds and men’s minds could be a great deal alike.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“It occurred to me that everybody suffered continually, including those who pretended they didn’t.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“You know, sometimes if a man doesn’t believe in what he is doing he can do a much more interesting job because he isn’t emotionally caught up in his Cause.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Al día siguiente mi cuerpo estaba completamente azul. No podía abrir los labios para hablar ni mover ninguna otra parte de mi ser sin que me doliera. Estaba allí, hundido en la cama, haciéndome a la idea de morir, y entonces entró mi madre con la camisa que yo llevaba durante la pelea. La extendió furiosa delante de mi cara y dijo: –¡Mira, tienes manchas de sangre en la camisa! ¡Manchas de sangre! –¡Lo siento! –¡Nunca las podré sacar! ¡NUNCA! –Son manchas de su sangre. –¡No importa! ¡Es sangre! ¡Y no se quita!”
― Charles Bukowski, Se busca una mujer

“Give a man four walls long enough and it is possible for him to own the world.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“He had nothing, and he found out that having nothing was difficult too.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“the Definition of Life is Trouble.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Que sonho bom: nunca mais olhar na cara de outro ser humano.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North

“Dentro de quatro paredes, tinha-se uma chance. Uma vez que se está na rua, já não há chance alguma, está tudo perdido, tudo realmente perdido. Por que roubar algo se não se pode cozinhar seja lá o que for? Como vai trepar com alguém morando no beco? Como se pode transar com alguém com todo aquele ronco dos albergues municipais? E como resistir quando seus sapatos são roubados? E o fedor? E a loucura? Não dá nem para tocar uma punheta. Você precisa de quatro paredes. Dê a um homem quatro paredes por tempo suficiente e é possível que ele consiga se tornar o dono do mundo.”
― Charles Bukowski, South of No North