Find what you love and let it kill you.
Charles Bukowski Kinky Friedman
Misattributed
No. Kinky Friedman wrote it, not Bukowski.
Researched by AI. Entry updated 21 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
Where it comes from
Quote Investigator traces the earliest evidence it located to Michael Spies’s Houston Chronicle profile of Kinky Friedman, 18 September 1986, Houston section, p. 1: the wording uses ‘like’, not ‘love’. Van Dyke Parks credits Friedman in a 1991 interview and uses the ‘love’ form in CMJ New Music Monthly, April 1998, p. 23. QI documents a Bukowski attribution in an April 2012 tweet and the purported letter on Goodreads by December 2012, but finds no substantive Bukowski source. Friedman is the documented earlier speaker; who first substituted ‘love’ is uncertain. These dates and references were checked in QI’s article, not independently against the newspaper or magazine scans.
In context
This circulates under Bukowski’s name, sometimes inside a purported personal letter. The documented earlier attribution is to Kinky Friedman; the letter is not evidence of Bukowski’s authorship.
What it says
The maxim jokes about pursuing an attachment even when it is destructive.
Often misread
It should not be cited as Bukowski’s advice. Friedman’s earlier wording concerns something one likes, while later uses can turn it into a solemn injunction about romantic love or artistic vocation.
Use with care
Do not attribute this to Bukowski. Kinky Friedman is the documented earlier speaker of the ‘like’ wording; the precise origin of the ‘love’ substitution remains uncertain. The line is dark humor, not practical advice to harm oneself.
Topics
Related quotes
- Buy when there’s blood in the streets. (not found) Bernard Baruch
- The first step to eternal life is you have to die. Chuck Palahniuk
- The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer. Marcus Aurelius
- There is more sagacity in thy body than in thy best wisdom. (paraphrase) Friedrich Nietzsche
- Wisdom is not in reason, but in love. André Gide
Sources
Cite it
“Find what you love and let it kill you.” Attributed to Charles Bukowski. No. Kinky Friedman wrote it, not Bukowski. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/find-what-you-love-and-let-it-kill-you/ (checked 21 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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