"The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves"
About this Quote
The age marker, 25, lands like an insult and a diagnosis. It’s young enough to sting, old enough to feel plausible: by then you’ve been processed through school, work, and the early mandates of respectability. “Finished” isn’t death, it’s the death of possibility. The line tracks Bukowski’s recurring suspicion that the culture doesn’t just disappoint you; it trains you to settle for disappointment until you mistake it for maturity.
Then he widens the frame to a nation “driving automobiles, eating, having babies” - the basic verbs of American normalcy - and sneers at the way they’re performed: “in the worst way possible”. That’s not misanthropy for sport. It’s an attack on mass self-recognition as politics: choosing leaders who “reminded them most of themselves”. Democracy becomes a mirror, not a moral project, and the real villain is comfort with your own mediocrity.
Quote Details
| Topic | Life |
|---|---|
| Source | "Ham On Rye". Book by Charles Bukowski, 1982. |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bukowski, Charles. (2026, February 10). The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-problem-was-you-had-to-keep-choosing-between-185132/
Chicago Style
Bukowski, Charles. "The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves." FixQuotes. February 10, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-problem-was-you-had-to-keep-choosing-between-185132/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves." FixQuotes, 10 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-problem-was-you-had-to-keep-choosing-between-185132/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
