The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable.

The line twists a familiar geometric maxim—“the shortest distance between two points is a straight line”—into a psychological observation. Read as Bukowski-esque irony, it suggests that directness (in love, truth-telling, self-knowledge, or confrontation) can be the most painful route: the “straight line” forces immediate contact with what one would rather avoid. Indirect paths—detours, distractions, evasions—may be longer but feel more tolerable. The aphorism also implies that efficiency and emotional survivability are not the same value; what is logically optimal can be humanly unbearable.