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Quote by William S. Burroughs

“Time is what death needs to grow people in.”

Author

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

“My general theory since 1971 has been that the word is literally a virus, and that it has not been recognized as such because it has achieved a state of relatively stable symbiosis with its human host; that is to say, the word virus (the other Half) has established itself so firmly as an accepted part of the human organism that it can now sneer at gangster viruses like smallpox and turn them in to the Pasteur Institute.”

Humans Has Beens States Past Turns Half Theory Accepted Host Stable Organisms Viruses Institute Other Half Gangsters Sneer Smallpox Symbiosis Pasteur

Book:The Adding Machine

Source: The Adding Machine

“Kerouac and I are not real at all. The only thing about a writer is that he has written, and not his so-called life. 'And we (will) all die and the stars will go out, one after another.”

Real Dies Stars Written

Author:William S. Burroughs

“Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him.”

Character Style Prisoner

Book:The Adding Machine: Collected Essays

Source: The Adding Machine: Collected Essays

“The concessions of the privileged to the unprivileged are seldom brought about by any better motive than the power of the unprivileged to extort them.”

Advantage Motive Privileged Concessions

Book:Essays on Sex Equality

Source: Essays on Sex Equality

“Customs are made for customary circumstances, and customary characters.”

Made Character Circumstances Customs

Book:On Liberty

Source: On Liberty

“He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice.”

Doe Choices Customs

Book:On Liberty

Source: On Liberty

“The peculiarity of the evidence of mathematical truths is that all the argument is on one side.”

Sides Truth Is Evidence Argument Mathematics Mathematical

Book:J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings

Source: J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings

Quote by William S. Burroughs

Author

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