Charles Bukowski: Generally speaking, you’re free till you’re about four years old, five, around. Then you go to grammar school, and then you start becoming demented and solved, and orientated and shoved into areas.

You lose what individualism you have. If you have enough, of course, you retain some of it. But most don’t have enough.

So you become a watcher of game shows, you know, things like that. And you work the eight hour job with almost a feeling of goodness, like you’re doing something.

And you get married like marriage is a victory, and you have children like children is a victory. But most things most people do are a total grind: Marriage, birth, children.

It’s something they have to do because there’s nothing else to do. There’s no glory in it, there’s no steam, there’s no fire, it’s very, very flat. And the earth is full of them.