"What was wrong was never understood and what was right never lasted." For me, this says it all. I don't remember what poem it's from, but it hits home with where I am in my life right now.
Favorite line from Buk?
- Thread starter Kingcargo.jb
- Start date
I think the one that made me laugh out loud the loudest is my signature. It's from Women when he cuts his leg on the bedframe after tripping over the phonecord.
Can't choose a favorite, but a great line that pretty much sums up his vision of humanity from "The Days Run Away...":
all wax without the wick,
and we see names that once meant
wisdom,
like signs into ghost towns,
and only the graves are real.
Can't choose a favorite, but a great line that pretty much sums up his vision of humanity from "The Days Run Away...":
all wax without the wick,
and we see names that once meant
wisdom,
like signs into ghost towns,
and only the graves are real.
jordan
lothario speedwagon
here is a hank solo question- bukowski short story in which he goes to see another writer who looks really young. he says something like, "he had never died before. me, i've died nine times out of ten, but i keep that last tenth cocked and loaded like a gun." ??? that's my favorite line, but i can't find the exact quotation, since i forgot where it's from.
Thank you Ponder.
Father Luke
Founding member
I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead.
Oh there are so many lines... I can't really choose just a single one, because it always has to go with the context -for me at least.
The best lines of all, the ones which really make me think 'oh the gods these are the lines which make me tremble' are the ones below:
'We are like roses that have never bothered to
bloom when we should have bloomed and
it is as if
the sun has become disgusted with
waiting'
They are from the poem 'Finish'.
The best lines of all, the ones which really make me think 'oh the gods these are the lines which make me tremble' are the ones below:
'We are like roses that have never bothered to
bloom when we should have bloomed and
it is as if
the sun has become disgusted with
waiting'
They are from the poem 'Finish'.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Tchaikovsky and I
always seem to
feel crappy
at the same
times (although he
is much better at
expressing
it).
and Mr. Bukowski writes things many of have thought.
always seem to
feel crappy
at the same
times (although he
is much better at
expressing
it).
and Mr. Bukowski writes things many of have thought.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
"We" or "us" is missing.
I am rereading Women right now and these lines put me in hysterics.
"If she was a sphinx she could have talked, if she was a stone she could have talked. I wondered when she'd get tired and leave. Even after I stopped listening it was like being battered with tiny pingpong balls."
BTW, my wife said just after I had read these lines "I have decided that I don't think he (Buk) is much of an author". So I am looking for a divorce lawyer. I think my next model (not the kind that walks down run ways) will be much newer or perhaps vintage. Something further from what I have right now. That way the memories aren't repeated.
"If she was a sphinx she could have talked, if she was a stone she could have talked. I wondered when she'd get tired and leave. Even after I stopped listening it was like being battered with tiny pingpong balls."
BTW, my wife said just after I had read these lines "I have decided that I don't think he (Buk) is much of an author". So I am looking for a divorce lawyer. I think my next model (not the kind that walks down run ways) will be much newer or perhaps vintage. Something further from what I have right now. That way the memories aren't repeated.
I saw it at my mother's funeral
I saw it in the garden
I saw it sliding among the bottles at the liquor store
It's not exactly the sun from the night torn mad with footsteps
I saw it in the garden
I saw it sliding among the bottles at the liquor store
It's not exactly the sun from the night torn mad with footsteps
M
MULLINAX
Would that include Ripple or Thunderbird?
Something from HAM ON RYE:
"Why were you late?"
"We baptised a dog".
"You baptised a dog?"
Something from HAM ON RYE:
"Why were you late?"
"We baptised a dog".
"You baptised a dog?"
"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire"
Beautiful line!!
regards,
Marjan v.d. Meulen
Beautiful line!!
regards,
Marjan v.d. Meulen
And Father Luke's favourvite. Can't choose really.
Marjan v.d. Meulen
Marjan v.d. Meulen
FINE!!!!! You guys took mine. This is another fave, from Pulp:
"Now, I mean, it just wasn't fair. Her dress fit so tight it almost split at the seams. Too many chocolate malts. And she was on heels so high they looked like little stilts. She walked like a drunken cripple, staggering around the room. A glorious dizziness of flesh."
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
LOL - Great lines! :D
I know, right? I'm rereading Pulp right now, and it's just one great line after another. I love this exchange between Nicky Belane and his landlord, McKelvey:
"Swore on my mother's honor to keep it quiet."
"Your mother's honor? She's handled more turkeyneck than the corner butcher!"
"Swore on my mother's honor to keep it quiet."
"Your mother's honor? She's handled more turkeyneck than the corner butcher!"
A couple from Ham on Rye:
"Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you."
"The life of the sane, average man was dull, worse than death. There seemed to be no
possible alternative. Education also seemed to be a trap. The little education I had allowed myself had made me more suspicious. What were doctors, lawyers, scientists? They were just men who allowed themselves to be deprived of their freedom to think and act as individuals."
"Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you."
"The life of the sane, average man was dull, worse than death. There seemed to be no
possible alternative. Education also seemed to be a trap. The little education I had allowed myself had made me more suspicious. What were doctors, lawyers, scientists? They were just men who allowed themselves to be deprived of their freedom to think and act as individuals."
yawn me glibly
through the final candle
of my hours
through the final candle
of my hours
Conclusion of Women
I walked into the kitchen, opened a bottle of vitamin E, 400 I.U. each, and downed several with half a glass of Perrier water. It was going to be a good night for Chinaski. The sun was slanting down through the venetian blinds, making a familiar pattern on the carpet, and the white wine was chilling in the refrigerator.
I opened the door and walked out on the porch. There was a strange cat out there. He was a huge creature, a tom, with a shining black coat and luminous yellow eyes. He wasn't frightened of me. He walked up purring and rubbed against one of my legs. I was a good guy and he knew it. Animals knew things like that. They had an instinct. I walked back inside and he followed me.
I opened him up a can of Star-Kist solid white tuna. Packed in spring water. Net wt. 7 oz.
I walked into the kitchen, opened a bottle of vitamin E, 400 I.U. each, and downed several with half a glass of Perrier water. It was going to be a good night for Chinaski. The sun was slanting down through the venetian blinds, making a familiar pattern on the carpet, and the white wine was chilling in the refrigerator.
I opened the door and walked out on the porch. There was a strange cat out there. He was a huge creature, a tom, with a shining black coat and luminous yellow eyes. He wasn't frightened of me. He walked up purring and rubbed against one of my legs. I was a good guy and he knew it. Animals knew things like that. They had an instinct. I walked back inside and he followed me.
I opened him up a can of Star-Kist solid white tuna. Packed in spring water. Net wt. 7 oz.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
I think you brought out something we all will agree with. I love solid white tuna, but I wouldn't rub up against his leg for any.
Thank you David for the reminder.
Thank you David for the reminder.
Ambreen
Sordide Sentimental
(sorry for only having it in french)
It is an extract from the Notes of a dirty old man where he relates his encounter with the fat girl with whom he had his first sexual experience :
la nuit où cette putasse d'un quintal cinq a arrimé son lard dans ce bar, j'étais en état d'assurer. tous autant qu'ils étaient, ils auraient calé, alors que, moi, j'étais prêt. ce n'était qu'un bloc de mauvaise graisse et question crasse, elle en tenait aussi la grosse couche. de quel cercle de l'enfer sortait-elle? qu'espérait-elle encore de l'existence? et de quelle façon avait-elle jusqu'à présent survécu? autant de questions que je ne lui ai pas posées, vu qu'on aurait pu les poser à n'importe qui dans ce bar. autant alors boire, boire jusqu'à plus soif et oeuvrer dans le dérisoire.
I think it perfectly sums up Buk's writing style and lifestyle.
It is an extract from the Notes of a dirty old man where he relates his encounter with the fat girl with whom he had his first sexual experience :
la nuit où cette putasse d'un quintal cinq a arrimé son lard dans ce bar, j'étais en état d'assurer. tous autant qu'ils étaient, ils auraient calé, alors que, moi, j'étais prêt. ce n'était qu'un bloc de mauvaise graisse et question crasse, elle en tenait aussi la grosse couche. de quel cercle de l'enfer sortait-elle? qu'espérait-elle encore de l'existence? et de quelle façon avait-elle jusqu'à présent survécu? autant de questions que je ne lui ai pas posées, vu qu'on aurait pu les poser à n'importe qui dans ce bar. autant alors boire, boire jusqu'à plus soif et oeuvrer dans le dérisoire.
the night the 300 pound whore came in I was ready. nobody else was ready but I was ready. she was god awful fat all around and not very clean either. where the hell she had come from and what she wanted and how she had survived up to now was a question you could ask about any human being, and so we drank drank and laughed and I sat next to her, pressed next to her, sniffing and laughing and goading.
I think it perfectly sums up Buk's writing style and lifestyle.
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