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William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quotes

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Famous William S. Burroughs Quotes

“Well, "disgusting" doesn't refer to the books but to the subjective reaction of the person making the complaint. I don't think that anything is disgusting per se. These words "disgusting" and "filthy," etc., have prevented us from undertaking any scientific experimentation in sexual matters.”

ThinkingWellsPersonsBookMatterReactionsEtcDisgustingComplaintsSubjectiveUndertakingsExperimentationFilthy
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“For instance, they [The Federal Narcotics Bureau ] give out that marijuana is a harmful and habit-forming drug, and it simply isn't. They claim that you can get addicted to opiates with one shot, and you can't. They over-estimate the physical bad effects, and so forth.”

GivingEffectsHabitDrugShotsClaimsInstanceMarijuanaNarcoticsOpiates
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“I meant that people will take anything that gives them a lift, whether it's alcohol or cocaine or the consciousness-expanding drugs or opiates. In Iran, until recently, they sold opium in shops legally, and they had 3,000,000 addicts in a population of 15,000,000. I don't believe that all those people were escaping from "complexes" or anything of the sort. They were simply exposed to it.”

PeopleGivingBelieveConsciousnessDrugComplexesDon't BelievePopulationAlcoholLiftsShopsIranExposedAddictExpandingCocaineEscapingOpiumOpiatesConsciousness Expanding
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“Mr. Bradley-Mr. Martin is two people because it is a statement of the impasse of dualistic universe which he has created, they have created. I think that any dualistic universe ends in Nova. Mr. Bradley-Mr. Martin is a kind of God. A God of stupidity, cowardice, ugliness.”

PeopleThinkingKindTwoEndsUniverseStupidityStatementsCowardiceUglinessNovasImpasse
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“I've seen villages in South America with no police whatever. Then the cops would arrive, then the sanitary inspectors, and before you know it they've got all the problems - crime, juvenile delinquency, the whole works - just like us.”

KnowsWholeProblemAmericaCrimePoliceSouthVillageCopJuvenileSouth AmericaInspectorsDelinquencySanitaryJuvenile Delinquency
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“I have no message to give the politicians of the world. They're all completely addicted to promiscuous verbalization and I'm quite sure they would not be at all interested in hearing about cut-ups and hieroglyphics and still less interested to hear about silence.”

WorldGivingStillsSilenceCuttingPoliticianMessagesHearingPromiscuousHieroglyphics
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“It's a tract against capital punishment in the genre of Swift's Modest Proposal. I was simply following a formula to its logical conclusion. Some people appear to have understood it. The publication of Naked Lunch in England practically coincided with their abolition of capital punishment. The book obviously had a certain effect.”

PeopleBookCertainEffectsUnderstoodEnglandFollowingPunishmentNakedConclusionGenreLogicalFormulasLunchModestProposalPublicationAbolitionCapital Punishment
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“The consciousness-expanding drugs - the hallucinogens, such as cannabis, mescaline, LSD, Psylocybin - I think are useful to a writer up to a certain point. That is, they open psychic areas that would not otherwise be available to the writer. But I feel that once these areas have been opened and the writer has reached them, he is able to get back there in the future without the drug.”

ThinkingFeelsHas BeensAbleCertainConsciousnessDrugAreasAvailableGet BackPsychicsExpandingCannabisLsdHallucinogensConsciousness Expanding
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“I feel that the change, the mutation in consciousness, will occur spontaneously once certain pressures now in operation are removed. I feel that the principal instrument of monopoly and control that prevents expansion of consciousness is the word lines controlling thought, feeling and apparent sensory impressions of the human host.”

FeelsHumansFeelingsCertainLinesConsciousnessPressureInstrumentsImpressionOperationsHostPrincipalExpansionMonopolySensoryMutation
Author:William S. Burroughs
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