The Wisdom Letter #138

5 quotes from Charles Bukowski (1920–1994)

✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the American poet and novelist, Charles Bukowski (1920–1994).

Quote № 01:

“How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 8:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?”

— Charles Bukowski, “Factotum”

Quote № 02:

“I didn't have any friends at school, didn't want any. I felt better being alone. I sat on a bench and watched the others play and they looked foolish to me.”

— Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye”

Quote № 03:

“I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.”

— Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye”

Quote № 04:

“It was a joy. Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.”

— Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye”

Quote № 05:

“The best thing about the bedroom was the bed. I liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with the covers pulled up to my chin. It was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing.”

— Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye”

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✺ Today’s Questions

Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:

Question № 01:

Does society's structure around work serve our human needs, or does it primarily exist to benefit those in power? How does this impact our sense of purpose and freedom?

Question № 02:

Can the act of reading and imagining transform our reality as profoundly as physical change can? What does this say about the power of the mind and our inner lives?

Question № 03:

What is the psychological cost of dedicating the majority of our waking hours to tasks that benefit others more than ourselves? Is the "rat race" necessary, or a product of cultural conditioning?

✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.

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