Charles Bukowski Quotes

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars; there's a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that.

Being quiet is comfortable. Keeping things the way they've been is comfortable. And all comfort has done is maintain the status quo.

If things had been different, she would be in Carolyn's place right now. She didn't want that sort of existence, but there was something so attractive about the security of feeling like you had stopped moving toward your life, and actually arrived.

You certainly have a higher quality of life when you are not on the Forbes list. It just means that your security changes, and you're known for the wrong things.

There's a real danger in trying to stay king of the mountain. You stop taking risks, you stop being as creative, because you're trying to maintain a position. Apart from anything else that really takes the fun out of it.

Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.

There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself in relationship to painting and that was attitudes like tortured, struggle, pain.

The great advantage of being in a rut is that when one is in a rut, one knows exactly where one is.

The man who has gotten everything he wants is all in favor of peace and order.

Security is when everything is settled, when nothing can happen to you; security is the denial of life.

I've got a great family and a beautiful house. I feel very lucky as far as my lifestyle is concerned. I'm not really interested in fame and all its trappings.

Money makes your life easier. If you're lucky to have it, you're lucky.

I was blessed to grow up in really interesting times and to go back to a home where I was very safe.

Movement is a fantastic privilege... but it ultimately only has meaning if you have a home to go back to.

Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.

No matter how much money I ever get, I'm going to want to provide for my family and never have to go back to really struggling. You don't ever want to go outside, you don't ever want to be left in the cold. You want to be safe.

He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security, and not progress, the highest lesson in statecraft.

I was very, very financially secure my whole life. I have been very lucky to say that.

Ease is the enemy of the artist. When things get too easy, you're in trouble.

Sometimes we get comfortable with the status quo, even when the status quo isn’t any good.

Safety and comfort comes with complacency, and that's never a good place to be working from.

What really makes me happy now is my home. I know that I have that to lose. But I don't see losing it. And I don't care if I never do another movie. And I don't care if I never get back on the road. I like to think that I'm gonna do that. But if I don't, I can live with that.

Once you have the money, fame, success or power, it's so easy to maintain that, because all you have to do is play it safe.

I don't want to sit by the edge, like some other guys who have played their game. Earned money, have nice lifestyles, and don't say anything.

We can take these things for granted, when we have everything on a plate.