Dimitra > Dimitra's Quotes

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”
― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain. If the greatnesses are in conjunction in a man or woman it is enough...the fact will prevail through the universe...but the gaggery and gilt of a million years will not prevail. Who troubles himself about his ornaments or fluency is lost. This is what you shall so: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body...”
― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Toughest Indian in the World

“to fight for each minute is to
fight for what is possible within
yourself,
so that your life and your death
will not be like
theirs.”
― Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last

“You have to die a few times before you can really
live.”
― Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last

“the area dividing the brain and the soul
is affected in many ways by
experience –
some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
some lose both and become:
accepted.”
― Charles Bukowski, You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense

“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it - basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness

“unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.”
― Charles Bukowski

“This is very important -- to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you're gonna lose everything...just to do nothing at all, very, very important. And how many people do this in modern society? Very few. That's why they're all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.”
― Charles Bukowski

“‎"she’ mad but she’
magic. there’ no lie in her fire.”
― Charles Bukowski

“Human relationships didn't work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death--in a cesspool.”
― Charles Bukowski, Women

“and then there are some who
believe that old
relationships can be
revived and made new
again.

but please
if you feel that way

don't phone
don't write
don't arrive”
― Bukowski C.

“Να σου γλείψω τα χέρια, να σου γλείψω τα πόδια –
η αγάπη κερδίζεται με την υποταγή.
Δεν ξέρω πως αντιλαμβάνεσαι εσύ τον έρωτα.
Δεν είναι μόνο μούσκεμα χειλιών,
φυτέματα αγκαλιασμάτων στις μασχάλες,
συσκότιση παραπόνου,
παρηγοριά σπασμών.
Είναι προπάντων επαλήθευση της μοναξιάς μας,
όταν επιχειρούμε να κουρνιάσουμε σε δυσκολοκατάχτητο κορμί.”
― Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος

“it’s moments like
this - you can feel it
happening - that you grow
transformed
partly into something
else strange and
unimaginable—
so when death comes
it can only take
part of
you

rom “8 Count Concerto”
― Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire

“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”
― Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire

“those who escape hell
however
never talk about
it
and nothing much
bothers them
after
that.”
― Charles Bukowski

“how can you be true and
kind at the same
time?

how?”
― Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems & Stories