William S. Burroughs Quotes

Quotes about:

• After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'

  William S. Burroughs

  Funny, Hilarious, Witty

  William S. Burroughs (1993). “The Adding Machine: Selected Essays”, p.125, Arcade Publishing

  192 Copy quote

• We must all face the fact that our leaders are certifiably insane or worse

  William S. Burroughs

  Leader, Insane, Faces

  214 Copy quote

• What does the money machine eat? It eats youth, spontaneity, life, beauty, and, above all, it eats creativity. It eats quality and sh*ts quantity.

  William S. Burroughs

  Creativity, Quality, Doe

  146 Copy quote

• Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.

  William S. Burroughs

  Inspirational, Crazy, Caring

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Naked Lunch: The Restored Text”, p.180, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  174 Copy quote

• There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.

  William S. Burroughs

  Mind Your Own Business, Provocative, Minding My Own Business

  William S. Burroughs (2013). “The Place of Dead Roads: A Novel”, p.117, Holt Paperbacks

  37 Copy quote

• Life is a vacation from two eternities, who wants to waste those precious years worrying about what happens when you get back to forever?

  William S. Burroughs

  Vacation, Years, Two

  14 Copy quote

• 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.

  William S. Burroughs

  Positive, Hate, People

  141 Copy quote

• You must learn to exist with no religion, no country, no allies. You must learn to live alone in silence.

  William S. Burroughs

  Country, Silence, Allies

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.320, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  41 Copy quote

• Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don't make compromises. Don't worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you can build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.

  William S. Burroughs

  Successful, Names, Worry

  "Patti Smith: Advice to the Young". Patti Smith's interview with Christian Lund at the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, vimeo.com. August 24, 2012.

  170 Copy quote

• Open your mind and let the pictures out

  William S. Burroughs

  Mind

  54 Copy quote

• When you cut into the present the future leaks out.

  William S. Burroughs

  Cutting, Leaks

  53 Copy quote

• Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage.

  William S. Burroughs

  Hipster, Men, Acting

  23 Copy quote

• There is no intensity of love or feeling that does not involve the risk of crippling hurt. It is a duty to take this risk, to love and feel without defense or reserve.

  William S. Burroughs

  Hurt, Feelings, Risk

  39 Copy quote

• I think anybody incapable of changing his mind is crazy.

  William S. Burroughs

  Crazy, Thinking, Mind

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

  111 Copy quote

• Paranoia is just having the right information.

  William S. Burroughs

  Information, Paranoia

  42 Copy quote

• Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

  William S. Burroughs

  Truth

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.435, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  10 Copy quote

• 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.

  William S. Burroughs

  Art, Writing, Mean

  "Ales Kot's highly ambitious Zero explores the deep roots of violence" by Shea Hennum and Oliver Sava, www.avclub.com. July 22, 2015.

  59 Copy quote

• To concern yourself with surface political conflicts is to make the mistake of the bull in the ring, you are charging the cloth. That is what politics is for, to teach you the cloth. Just as the bullfighter teaches the bull, teaches him to follow, obey the cloth.

  William S. Burroughs

  Mistake, Political, Bulls

  Source: realitystudio.org

  48 Copy quote

• The simplest questions are the most difficult.

  William S. Burroughs

  Discovery, Finding Yourself, Answers

  22 Copy quote

• Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.

  William S. Burroughs

  Communication, People, Silence

  William S. Burroughs (1989). “The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs”, Penguin Group USA

  23 Copy quote
• 

  The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself.

  William S. Burroughs

  Cat, Pet, Doe

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.504, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  103 Copy quote

• No one is ever really alone. You are part of everything alive.

  William S. Burroughs

  Alive

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.78, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  35 Copy quote

• After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it.

  William S. Burroughs

  Gun, People, Second Amendment

  "The War Universe". Grand Street, No. 37, 1991.

  198 Copy quote

• Whether you like it or not, you are committed to the human endeavor. I cannot ally myself with such a purely negative goal as avoidance of suffering. Suffering is a chance you take by the fact of being alive.

  William S. Burroughs

  Goal, Suffering, Facts

  William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg (1982). “Letters to Allen Ginsberg, 1953-1957”, Full Court Pr

  60 Copy quote

• I am getting so far out one day I won't come back at all.

  William S. Burroughs

  One Day

  William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg (1982). “Letters to Allen Ginsberg, 1953-1957”, Full Court Pr

  45 Copy quote

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