The Last Night of the Earth Poems Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

“well, death says, as he walks by, I'm going to get you anyhow no matter what you've been: writer, cab-driver, pimp, butcher, sky-diver, I'm going to get you”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

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

“I knew that I was dying.
Something in me said,
Go ahead, die, sleep, become as them, accept.
Then something else in me said, no,
save the tiniest bit.
It needn't be much, just a spark.
A spark can set a whole forest on fire.
Just a spark.
Save it.”
― Charles Bukowski, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“humanity you sick motherfucker.”
― Charles Bukowski, 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, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,
something has always been in the
way
but now
I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I’m going to have
a place and the time to
create.”

no baby, if you’re going to create
you’re going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you’re on
welfare,
you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown
away,
you’re going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.

baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don’t create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.”
― Charles Bukowski, 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, 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, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“Writing is its own intoxication.”
― Charles Bukowski, 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, 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, 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, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

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

“age is no crime but the shame of a deliberately wasted life among so many deliberately wasted lives is.”
― Charles Bukowski, 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, 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, The Last Night of the Earth Poems