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Home
Authors
William S. Burroughs
American
Writer
About the author
In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Deep
#Sadness
#Sentimentality
In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas, a cosmonaut of inner space, and I see no point in exploring areas that have already been thoroughly surveyed.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Acting
#Writing
#Space
Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Talk
#Will
#Sales
Language is a virus from outer space.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Language
#Space
The way to kill a man or a nation is to cut off his dreams, the way the whites are taking care of the Indians: killing their dreams, their magic, their familiar spirits.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Dreams
#Man
#Magic
#Nation
#Spirits
#Killing
#Care
Perhaps all pleasure is only relief.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Pleasure
I am getting so far out one day I won't come back at all.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Day
Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#State
#Man
#Present
#Space
#Travel
Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#World
Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#World
#Trouble
#Mind
#Business
Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Nothing
Our national drug is alcohol. We tend to regard the use any other drug with special horror.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Horror
#Alcohol
Like all pure creatures, cats are practical.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Cats
Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#People
#Silence
Smash the control images. Smash the control machine.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Control
#Machine
Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Paranoia
#Facts
The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Education
#Knowledge
#Values
#Facts
The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself. Of course he wants care and shelter. You don't buy love for nothing.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Love
#Nothing
#Care
The only possible ethic is to do what one wants to do.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#People
#Society
#Dream
Which came first the intestine or the tapeworm?
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#First
You can't fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Quality
Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Knowledge
Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Will
#Questions
#Mind
#Relax
The face of evil is always the face of total need.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Evil
Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Eyes
#Hair
A functioning police state needs no police.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#State
#Needs
#Police
A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
Admittedly, a homosexual can be conditioned to react sexually to a woman, or to an old boot for that matter. In fact, both homo - and heterosexual experimental subjects have been conditioned to react sexually to an old boot, and you can save a lot of money that way.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Old
#Woman
#Money
#Fact
After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Want
#Space
#Manager
Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Mind
#Change
#Artists
#Fact
#Legislators
Be just and if you can't be just, be arbitrary.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Magic
Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Hope
#Change
#Desperation
Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Acting
#Being
#Man
Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#War
#Purpose
#Happiness
#Victory
#Conflict
How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Hate
#Conformity
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.
William S. Burroughs,
American
Writer
#Want
#People
#Hell
#Society
#Military
#Police