Charles Bukowski Quotes

It is better to be deceived by one's friends than to deceive them.

If your best friend has stolen your girlfriend, it does become life and death.

Be careful of your enemy once and of your friend a thousand times, for a double crossing friend knows more about what harms you.

If treachery is the reward of trust, will the man who trusts come to harm?

Yes, my friend, and if you will steal for me then you will steal from me.

It takes years to build up, it takes moments to destroy.

Betray a friend, and you'll often find you have ruined yourself.

I heard my mother talking badly of me to people who were talking badly of me in her salon. That's probably the thing that I'm most sensitive of in all my friendships and my relationships. I just... I just can't take that. I'm comfortable with enemies, but I can't take it from friends.

To me, horror is when I see somebody lying. I mean a person I know. A friend. And he's telling me something that I accept. And then suddenly, as he or she is telling it, there's something that gives them away. They're not telling me the truth.

To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports.

Betrayal... is my favorite subject.

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

What is a disloyal act? A person is disloyal if he treats you as a stranger when, in fact, he belongs to you as a friend or partner. Each of us is bound to some special others by the invisible fibers of loyalty.

I am not afraid of my enemies, but by God, you must look out when you get among your friends.

Lovers have a right to betray you... friends don't.

Did you really think I would sell you out?

It's the same old story you've heard a thousand times. Somebody's trust gets broken. Somebody's left behind.

A lot of people let me down... A lot of people I thought were my friends turned on me.

My first husband was a serial cheater.

There are only really a few stories to tell in the end, and betrayal and the failure of love is one of those good stories to tell.

No one ever tells us the truth, even those we love.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

My first heartbreak was extreme. I went to Australia for 10 months when I was at school and told the girl I was madly in love with not to come out to see me - and of course, when I came back, she met me at the airport to tell me she'd met someone else.