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William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quotes

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Famous William S. Burroughs Quotes

“It is to be remembered that all art is magical in origin - music, sculpture, writing, painting - and by magical I mean intended to produce very definite results. Paintings were originally formulae to make what is painted happen. Art is not an end in itself, any more than Einstein's matter-into-energy formulae is an end in itself. Like all formulae, art was originally FUNCTIONAL, intended to make things happen, the way an atom bomb happens from Einstein's formulae.”

WayWritingMeanArtEndsMatterHappensEnergyResultsProducePaintingArt IsThings HappenRememberedBombsAtomsDefiniteSculptureMake Things HappenAtom Bomb
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“Speaking for myself, art differs from writing in that I never know what I'm going to paint until I paint it, so it's almost like automatic writing. A writer, on the other hand, can't help but know what he's going to write, because the activity demands a degree of premeditation.”

KnowsWritingArtHelpingHandsActivityDemandDegreesPaintPremeditation
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“Visual art and writing don't exist on an aesthetic hierarchy that positions one above the other, because each is capable of things the other can't do at all. Sometimes one picture is equal to 30 pages of discourse, just as there are things images are completely incapable of communicating.”

WritingArtSometimesPositionEqualPagesCapableCommunicateVisualsAestheticIncapableDiscourseHierarchyVisual Art
Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997
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“There is only one thing a writer can write about: what is in front of his senses at the moment of writing... I am a recording instrument... I do not presume to impose "story" "plot" "continuity"... Insofar as I succeed in Direct recording of certain areas of psychic process I may have limited function... I am not an entertainer.”

WritingMayMomentsStoriesCertainProcessOne ThingFrontsSucceedAreasDirectFunctionInstrumentsSensesPlotPsychicsContinuityEntertainers
Book:Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader
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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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“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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