Charles Bukowski Quotes

I'm not interested in turning anybody on to anybody that I'm turned on to... if people want to find things, they find them themselves.

I have to get involved in my own kind of way 'cause I always want to respect my own judgments. I have to respect my own time.

I still live my life the way that I want to live it, and people are very respectful of my space, but they also want to chat, and I quite like chatting.

Don't get caught up in other people's expectations. Don't take anything for granted, either.

For someone like me, who prefers to keep their life as private as possible, it was disconcerting to have to define so much about myself. I don't want to be labeled as one thing or another.

You can't make people who you want them to be. That was a hard lesson for me.

People say 'follow in the footsteps' but I always find that a strange expression because what you want to do is forge your own path, so to speak.

I tend to not speak up as much, so saying no is rather difficult for me. The biggest step of being an adult is saying, "This is what I do like. This is what I don't like." Being yourself means certain people aren't going to like that. I'm still figuring it out and taking things day by day.

I don't really want to be the costar of anyone's life.

The people can have anything they want, the only problem is they do not want anything.

Let other people do it their way. What other people do is irrelevant.

I don't want people to love me. It makes for obligations.

I don't care where Obama goes. He can go wherever he wants.

Let's let people live their lives and do it the way they want to do it.

People want what they want. Sometimes you just have to walk in defiance of it and just be yourself.

Today I will realize that I'm powerless over other people's expectations of me. I'll think about what I want and consider that how I respond to others' needs will affect the course of my life. I will own my own power and choose the course that's right for me.

I'd have wasted a lot of time and trouble before I learned that the best way to take all people, black or white, is to take them for what they think they are, then leave them alone.

I don't want people to be inspired or offended by what I do. If you determine your behavior by what [other people] want, you're screwed.

People were like, "Oh maybe we can change your teeth" and I thought that was going a bit far. You have to be really strong in this job and realise that you are your own boss and if someone tells you to do something, you don't have to do it. I really like my teeth.

People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone.

We never really cared about all the things that other people cared about, you know? Like, people recognizing me on the street never interested me. I've always been kind of suspicious of the world, anyway, so it's pretty easy for me to live in my own little world.

we had each other. I never needed anyone else. That’s the difference between you and me. You need all these people around you. Your friends, your boyfriend, everyone. Every single person has to like you. I only ever needed one person. Only ever needed you.

I don't think people should try to force their will on their family.