Charles Bukowski Quotes

The minute I get a big head and start acting like the big man on campus, it's all downhill from there.

Sometimes, you can get too big when you feel too good.

I'm the best. I should win everything.

Ego is certainly there in many of the greatest and most dizzying tales of success - but it's there in some of the greatest stories of failure and self-implosion as well.

Probably because the first two albums were so successful, we got a little bit smug.

Success tempts many to their ruin.

When you start believing you're something special, then you're not going to be striving to move forward.

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

Be careful of success; it has a dark side.

I believe that people start to get into trouble when they start to believe their own hype.

Bonfire of the Vanities: The lesson of that book is, never start believing your own press.

Just because I managed to do a little something, I don't want anyone back home to think I got the big head.

Self-conceit may lead to self destruction.

Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.

Success can set the table for tragedy if the victors are not careful.

The minute you start believing your own success, you're on the road to ruin.

I've got it all: I'm good-looking, I'm educated, I can sing, and I can play rugby. Ridiculous, isn't it?

Think about what makes a band burn out. They get too successful too fast. And then they take it for granted. And they get entitled. And they get picky. We don't ever allow ourselves that possibility.

I've seen guys who had the craziest amount of talent growing up and let that hype and whatnot and the money go to their head.

I'd never want to get too big for my boots.

Only stupid people are changed by success.

I think once you start to think that you're the man, and you know it all, and your style is unbeatable and stuff like that, that's when you get caught and clipped and get humbled really fast.

I'm keenly aware of the Pride coming before the Fall . . . but I really do like what I've been able to do here.

When you have any kind of success in life, that's like the most dangerous moment that you're in because you're going to tend to think wow, I can just keep repeating what I've done. I'm a great person. People love me. All of the sudden they're giving me all of this attention. You get drunk on it and you lose your sense of balance and your sense of detachment. I know it's happened to me.

Confidence quickly curdles into arrogance; smarts turn to smugness, charm turns to smarm.