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William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quotes

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Famous William S. Burroughs Quotes

“The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence. The only way I like to see cops given flowers is in a flower pot from a high window.”

PeopleThinkingWayLoveGivingGivenFlowerWindowDisappearActivismPotEstablishmentNonviolenceCopGoing To WorkHippie
Book:The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs
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“For seven days she lay in bed looking sullenly at the ceiling as though resenting the death she had cultivated for so many years. Like some people who cannot vomit despite horrible nausea, she lay there unable to die, resisting death as she had resisted life, frozen with resentment of process and change.”

PeopleYearsDiesProcessBedLaysSevenHorribleDespiteResentmentFrozenCeilingsResistingSeven DaysNausea
Book:And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
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“What are Americans? We've got everything from sharecroppers to atomic physicist here, and there's certainly no uniformity in their thought processes. There's very little they have in common. In fact, Americans should we say, have less in common than any other nationality.”

ShouldLittlesFactsProcessCommonPhysicistHere And ThereNationalityUniformityThought Process
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“The idea that addiction is somehow a psychological illness is, I think, totally ridiculous. It's as psychological as malaria. It's a matter of exposure. People, generally speaking, will take any intoxicant or any drug that gives them a pleasant effect if it is available to them.”

PeopleIfsThinkingGivingIdeasMatterEffectsDrugAddictionIllnessAvailableRidiculousPsychologicalPleasantExposureMalaria
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“All political movements are basically anti-creative - since a political movement is a form of war. "There's no place for impractical dreamers around here," that's what they always say. "Your writing activities will be directed, kindly stop horsing around." "As for the smoking of marijuana, it is the exploitation for the workers." Both favor alcohol and are against pot.”

WritingWarFormPoliticalCreativeMovementActivityWorkersAlcoholFavorsSmokingPotDreamerMarijuanaExploitationPolitical MovementsHorsing Around
Book:Conversations with William S. Burroughs
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“His whole being radiates a pure, wild sweetness, flitting through night woods with little melodious cries, on some cryptic errand. There is also an aura of doom and sadness about this trusting little creature. He has been abandoned many times over the centuries, left to die in cold city alleys, in hot noon vacant lots, pottery shards, nettles, crumbled mud walls. Many times he has cried for help in vain.”

LittlesHas BeensWholeHelpingNightDiesLeftCitiesSadnessCenturyCryWallColdPureCreaturesCatHotWoodsVainAbandonedCriedSweetnessMudDoomNoonAlleysAurasVacantPotteryErrandsCrypticNettles
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“Writing prejudicial, off-putting reviews is a precise exercise in applied black magic. The reviewer can draw free-floating disagreeable associations to a book by implying that the book is completely unimportant without saying exactly why, and carefully avoiding any clear images that could capture the reader's full attention.”

WritingBookBlackAttentionClearMagicReaderExerciseDrawsCriticismCriticsReviewsCaptureAssociationAvoidingPreciseFloatingUnimportantDisagreeableReviewersImplyingBlack Magic
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“The face of "evil" is always the face of total need. A dope fiend is a man in total need of dope. Beyond a certain frequency need knows absolutely no limit or control. In the words of total need: "Wouldn't you?" Yes you would. You would lie, cheat, inform on your friends, steal, do anything to satisfy total need. Because you would be in a state of total sickness, total possession, and not in a position to act in any other way. Dope fiends are sick people who cannot act other than they do. A rabid dog cannot choose but bite.”

PeopleKnowsMenWayNeedsStatesWould BeFunnyFacesLyingCertainEvilDogPositionDrugLimitsSickPossessionStealingSicknessBitesCheatFrequencyDope
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.”

PeopleIfsWantImportantCareHateHellPositionPositiveWeakAssumingAffectionDon't CareSpreadI Don't CareGutsWorthlessSpiritedImportant QuestionsSulky
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“It is thought that the virus is a degeneration from a more complex life form. It may at one time have been capable of independent life. Now has fallen to the borderline between living and dead matter. It can exhibit living qualities only in a host, by using the life of another-the renunciation of life itself, a falling towards inorganic, inflexible machine, towards dead matter”

MayHas BeensMatterFormFallQualityCapableMachinesIndependentComplexesFallenHostOne TimeVirusesExhibitsRenunciationBorderlineDegenerationIndependent Life
Book:Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader
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“Consider the impasse of a one-God universe. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He can't go anywhere, since He is already everywhere. He can't do anything, since the act of doing presupposes opposition. His universe is irrevocably thermodynamic, having no friction by definition. So, He has to create friction: War, Fear, Sickness, Death, to keep his dying show on the road.”

WarShowsUniversePowerfulKnowingDyingDefinitionsSicknessOppositionFrictionImpasse
Author:William S. Burroughs
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