William S. Burroughs Quotes

Language is a virus from outer space.

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.

There couldn’t possibly be a more disastrous move than starting to cut back on grammar and educational standards in the schools.

The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product. He does not improve and simplify his merchandise. He degrades and simplifies the client.

A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on.

A junkie is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.

One of the great attractions of heroin is that it produces a feeling of supreme competence.

The enemy is within, the enemy is the ego.

You were not there for the beginning. You will not be there for the end. Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative.

There is no intensity of love or feeling that does not involve the risk of crippling hurt. It is a duty to take this risk, to love and feel without defense or reserve.

After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say, ‘I want to see the manager.’

Like all pure creatures, cats are practical.

When you stop growing you start dying.

William S. Burroughs Quotes part 2

Most ancient Egyptians secretly understood that they were living in someone else’s story, to which they contributed little more than the labor of their bodies and the time-tested conventions of their bank accounts.

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.

Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.

Language is a virus and religion is an operating system.

The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product to the consumer. He sells the consumer to his product.

In the U.S. you have to be a deviant or a nitwit to be an adult.

Fighting is not something you do when everything else fails. Real fighting is what you do when everything else fails.

There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty – unless she is wed to something more meaningful – is always superficial.

You must learn to exist with no religion, no country, no allies. You must learn to live alone in silence.

In deep sadness, there is no place for sentimentality.

The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product, he sells the need to have it.

Love? What rubbish! The heart dominant in males, weakens the mind and degrades reason.

The first and most important thing an individual can do is to become an individual again, decontrol himself, train himself as to what is going on.

I am getting so far out one day I won’t come back at all.

When you’re actually making the film, you’re constantly battling to maintain its integrity.

A functioning police state needs no police.

Cockroaches and socialites are the only things that can stay up all night and eat anything.

In the US you have to be a deviant or a partisan to be anything.

When you stop growing, you start dying.

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.

There aren’t any good jobs anymore.

After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say: ‘I want to see the manager.’

You see, everyone’s acting alone and after their own interests.

Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.

The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product.

In the U.S. you have to be a deviant or a nitwit to be an adult.

The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product to the consumer. He sells the consumer to his product.

There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty – unless she is wed to something more meaningful – is always superficial.

Love? What rubbish! The heart dominant in males, weakens the mind and degrades reason.

The first and most important thing an individual can do is to become an individual again, decontrol himself, train himself as to what is going on.

I am getting so far out one day I won’t come back at all.

When you’re actually making the film, you’re constantly battling to maintain its integrity.

You look like a million dollars… all green and wrinkled.

If I had my way we’d sleep every night all wrapped around each other like hibernating rattlesnakes.

Language is a virus from outer space.

I’m an addict; I’m addicted to success. Thankfully, there’s no rehab for success.