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William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quotes

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Famous William S. Burroughs Quotes

“The hallucinogens produce visionary states, sort of, but morphine and its derivatives decrease awareness of inner processes, thoughts and feelings. They are pain killers; pure and simple. They are absolutely contraindicated for creative work, and I include in the lot alcohol, morphine, barbiturates, tranquilizers the whole spectrum of sedative drugs.”

StatesWholeFeelingsPainProcessSimpleCreativeAwarenessProduceDrugPureAlcoholKillersSpectrumVisionariesDecreaseCreative WorkThoughts And FeelingsDerivativesMorphineHallucinogens
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”

PeopleThinkingStatesWholeAmericaPoliticalHistoryVirtueAtheismHeroConceptsFolksBlowPositive AtheismPresidentialUsaSkepticismDiseasedIrreverence
Book:Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader
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“Belief is a meaningless word. What does it mean? I believe something. Okay, now you have someone who is hearing voices and believes in these voices. It doesn't mean they have any necessary reality. Your whole concept of your "I" is an illusion. You have to give something called an "I" before you speak of what the "I" believes.”

GivingBelieveMeanDoeWholeRealityBeliefSpeakI BelieveVoiceIllusionConceptsOkayHearingMeaninglessHearing Voices
Author:William S. Burroughs
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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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“God save the Queen and a fascist regime … a flabby toothless fascism, to be sure. Never go too far in any direction, is the basic law on which Limey-Land is built. The Queen stabilizes the whole sinking shithouse and keeps a small elite of wealth and privilege on top. The English have gone soft in the outhouse. England is like some stricken beast too stupid to know it is dead. Ingloriously foundering in its own waste products, the backlash and bad karma of empire”

KnowsWholeLawWealthGoneLandStupidProductsWasteBuiltEnglandPrivilegeKarmaQueensBeastEmpiresFascismRegimesElitesFascistsSinkingBacklashBad KarmaToothless
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“Evidence indicates that cats were first tamed in Egypt. The Egyptians stored grain, which attracted rodents, which attracted cats. (No evidence that such a thing happened with the Mayans, though a number of wild cats are native to the area.) I don't think this is accurate. It is certainly not the whole story. Cats didn't start as mousers. Weasels and snakes and dogs are more efficient as rodent-control agents. I postulate that cats started as psychic companions, as Familiars, and have never deviated from this function.”

ThinkingFirstsWholeStoriesNumbersHappenedDogEvidenceAreasCatFunctionAgentsNativeCompanionEfficientAccurateGrainEgyptPsychicsSnakesTamedWeaselsRodentsMayans
Author: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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