Charles Bukowski Quotes

I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.

Why should I deem myself to be a chisel, when I could be the artist?

I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on.

I've learned that I'm most powerful when I'm doing my art.

A man is always better than he thinks.

The more we reduce ourselves to machines in the lower things, the more force we shall set free to use in the higher.

I'm ultimately drawn to film many kinds of stories if they are sort of about unlocking the secrets of our human potential.

Everything is what you make of it, even yourself.

The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.

We are creators, and yet we naively play the role of "the created." We see ourselves as helpless sheep buffeted around by the God who made us. We kneel like frightened children, begging for help, for forgiveness, for good luck. But once we realize that we are truly created in the Creator's image, we will start to understand that we, too, must be Creators. When we understand this fact, the doors will burst wide open for human potential.

Whoever undertakes to create soon finds himself engaged in creating himself. Self-transformation and the transformation of others have constituted the radical interest of our century, whether in painting, psychiatry, or political action.

I direct my attention to the individual, to make him strong, to teach him that he himself is divine, and I call upon men to make themselves conscious of this divinity within. That is really the ideal --conscious or unconscious --of every religion.

I'm thrilled by the fact that I made something out of nothing. There it is! It wasn't there before: there it is - I made it! That's pretty powerful, and that's the power that Buddhists give to every single person.

You are both a work of art and an artist at work.

In this state one enriches everything out of one's own fullness: whatever one sees, whatever wills is seen swelled, taut, strong, overloaded with strength. A man in this state transforms things until they mirror his power—until they are reflections of his perfection. This having to transform into perfection is—art.

I know who I am and what I'm doing in my life and what I've accomplished and continue to accomplish as a performer, as a writer, as an artist, as a person, as a human being.

I am not reggae, I am me. I am bigger than the limits that are put on me. It all has to do with the individual journey.

There is a Fountain of Youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.

The surest plan to make a man is, think him so.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

For me, 'Rent' was all about coming out of myself, finding out who I was, learning the power I could have as a performer.

I am deeply in tune with my heart and core, and it's made me a better writer, artist, and most of all woman. It's made me more myself.

Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.

I just want to touch something deep in the heart of humanity. I don't know if that's in movies, producing films, or writing a book, but I'm concerned about our spiritual well-being as a human race. I want to impact people in a way that makes us all reach for our best.