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Quote by William S. Burroughs

“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.”

Quote by William S. Burroughs

Book:Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997

Work

Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997

Burroughs Live offers a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most influential figures in modern literature. The interviews, conducted between 1960 and 1997, cover a wide range of topics, from Burroughs' creative process to his views on society and culture. This collection is essential for anyone interested in the work and life of William S. Burroughs. more

Author

William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs was an American novelist known for his unique writing style and his significant influence on postmodern literature. His works often involve social criticism, political satire, and surrealistic elements. more

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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.”

People Book Certain Effects Understood England Following Punishment Naked Conclusion Genre Logical Formulas Lunch Modest Proposal Publication Abolition Capital Punishment

Author:William S. Burroughs

“So many people in the Western World are just automatically made ill by any sort of frank writing about sexual matters.”

People World Writing Made Matter Western Ill Frank Western World

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“I feel that opiates - I include opium and all its derivatives, such as morphine, heroin, pantopon, etc. - are quite useless for any sort of creative work, useful though they may be for routine work. Much of the hard physical work in the Far East is done by opium addicts.”

Feels May Hard Done Creative East Useless Etc Routine Addict Heroin Creative Work Opium Derivatives Opiates Morphine Routine Work

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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.”

Thinking Feels Has Beens Able Certain Consciousness Drug Areas Available Get Back Psychics Expanding Cannabis Lsd Hallucinogens Consciousness Expanding

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“I certainly wouldn't advocate anyone using drugs on a regular or habitual basis.”

Drug Bases Habitual

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“Given certain known factors in an equation and the equation comprising a situation of absolute need - any form of need - you can predict the results. Leave a sick junkie in the back room of a drugstore and only one result is possible.”

Needs Form Certain Given Rooms Results Situation Known Sick Absolutes Factors Equations Need You Junkie

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“The more absolute the need, the more predictable the behavior becomes until it is mathematically certain.”

Needs Certain Behavior Absolutes Predictable

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“I think if a writer is not endeavoring to expand and alter consciousness in himself and in his readers, he is not doing much of anything. It is precisely words, word lines, lines of words and images, and associations connected with these word and image lines in the brain, that keep you in present time, right where you are sitting now.”

Ifs Thinking Lines Brain Consciousness Reader Sitting Connected Where You Are Association Present Time

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“I attend Trinity United Church of Christ, and my pastor [was] Jeremiah Wright.”

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“The memoir was a very personal book. I wrote it as a personal journey and search about who my father was and how my family had come together and come apart - sorting all that out, you know, issues of personal identity.”

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