--- title: "6 Burroughs Quotes By William S. Burroughs" description: "6 Burroughs quotes by William S. Burroughs. Plus more from William S. Burroughs and more Burroughs sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/952/william-s-burroughs-528_amazing_did-i-ever-tell-you-about-the-man-who-ta_70289.jpg" --- > [“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/did-i-ever-tell-you-about-the-man-who-taught-his-asshole-to-talk-his/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/952/william-s-burroughs-528_amazing_did-i-ever-tell-you-about-the-man-who-ta_70289.jpg) > [“What's with the serum?" I don't know, but it sounds ominous. We better put a telepathic direction finder on Benway. The man's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/what-s-with-the-serum-i-don-t-know-but-it-sounds-ominous-we-better/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/william-s-burroughs-528_art_what-s-with-the-serum-i-don-t-know-but-i_546240.png) > [As a young child I wanted to be a writer because writers were rich and famous. They lounged around Singapore and Rangoon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/as-a-young-child-i-wanted-to-be-a-writer-because-writers-were-rich/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ce/william-s-burroughs-528_boys_as-a-young-child-i-wanted-to-be-a-writer_895412.jpg) > [“Hip - Someone who knows the score. Someone who understands "jive talk." Someone who is "with it." The expression is not subject…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/hip-someone-who-knows-the-score-someone-who-understands-jive-talk/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a2/william-s-burroughs-528_burroughs_hip-someone-who-knows-the-score-someone_998705.png) > [when I become death. Death is the seed from which I grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/when-i-become-death-death-is-the-seed-from-which-i-grow/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a6/william-s-burroughs-528_burroughs_when-i-become-death-death-is-the-seed-fr_1863807.png) > [Like many nonconformist and beat generation writers, William S. Burroughs takes the outcasts of society as his theme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/like-many-nonconformist-and-beat-generation-writers-william-s/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/william-s-burroughs-528_beat-generation_like-many-nonconformist-and-beat-generat_2930675.png) ## More by William S. Burroughs > [“Control never be a means to any practical end. It can never be a means to anything but more control… Like punk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/control-never-be-a-means-to-any-practical-end-it-can-never-be-a-means/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [“Well as, one judge said to the other, 'Be just and if you can't be just be arbitrary.' Regret cannot observe customary obscenities.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/well-as-one-judge-said-to-the-other-be-just-and-if-you-can-t-be-just/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/after-one-look-at-this-planet-any-visitor-from-outer-space-would-say/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [For seven days she lay in bed looking sullenly at the ceiling as though resenting the death she had cultivated for so many years.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/for-seven-days-she-lay-in-bed-looking-sullenly-at-the-ceiling-as/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [When you stop growing you start dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/when-you-stop-growing-you-start-dying/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [Life is a cutup. And to pretend that you write or paint in a timeless vacuum is just simply . . . not .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/life-is-a-cutup-and-to-pretend-that-you-write-or-paint-in-a-timeless/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [When all lies, deceit, pretense is stripped away, what remains? The truth of a painting, or a book or a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/when-all-lies-deceit-pretense-is-stripped-away-what-remains-the-truth/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [“There is no final enough of wisdom, experience - any fucking thing. No Holy Grail, No Final Satori, no solution. Just conflict. Only thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/there-is-no-final-enough-of-wisdom-experience-any-fucking-thing-no/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [“For John Dillinger In hope he is still alive Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986 In hope he is still alive Thanks for the wild…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/for-john-dillinger-in-hope-he-is-still-alive-thanksgiving-day/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down, you dig,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/did-i-ever-tell-you-about-the-man-who-taught-his-asshole-to-talk-his/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [You need a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/you-need-a-good-bedside-manner-with-doctors-or-you-will-get-nowhere/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/there-couldn-t-be-a-society-of-people-who-didn-t-dream-they-d-be-dead/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [I prefer cats to people, for the most part. Most people aren't cute at all, and if they are cute they very rapidly outgrow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/i-prefer-cats-to-people-for-the-most-part-most-people-aren-t-cute-at/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [ \[Arab peoples\] are stuck back thousands of years and they think they're going to get out with a TV set. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/arab-peoples-are-stuck-back-thousands-of-years-and-they-think-they-re/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [“It is not the intensity but the duration of pain that breaks the will to resist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/it-is-not-the-intensity-but-the-duration-of-pain-that-breaks-the-will/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burroughs/william-s-burroughs/#itemlist", "name": "6 Burroughs Quotes By William S. Burroughs", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down, you dig, farting out the words. It was unlike anything I ever heard. Bubbly, thick, stagnant sound. A sound you could smell. This man worked for the carnival,you dig? And to start with it was like a novelty ventriloquist act. After a while, the ass started talking on its own. He would go in without anything prepared... and his ass would ad-lib and toss the gags back at him every time. Then it developed sort of teethlike... little raspy incurving hooks and started eating. He thought this was cute at first and built an act around it... but the asshole would eat its way through his pants and start talking on the street... shouting out it wanted equal rights. It would get drunk, too, and have crying jags. Nobody loved it. And it wanted to be kissed, same as any other mouth. Finally, it talked all the time, day and night. You could hear him for blocks, screaming at it to shut up... beating at it with his fists... and sticking candles up it, but... nothing did any good, and the asshole said to him... \"It is you who will shut up in the end, not me... \"because we don't need you around here anymore. I can talk and eat and shit.\" After that, he began waking up in the morning with transparentjelly... like a tadpole's tail all over his mouth. He would tear it off his mouth and the pieces would stick to his hands... like burning gasoline jelly and grow there. So, finally, his mouth sealed over... and the whole head... would have amputated spontaneously except for the eyes, you dig? That's the one thing that the asshole couldn't do was see. It needed the eyes. Nerve connections were blocked... and infiltrated and atrophied. So, the brain couldn't give orders anymore. It was trapped inside the skull... sealed off. For a while, you could see... the silent, helpless suffering of the brain behind the eyes. And then finally the brain must have died... because the eyes went out... and there was no more feeling in them than a crab's eye at the end of a stalk.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William S. 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We better put a telepathic direction finder on Benway. The man's not to be trusted. Might do almost anything...Turn a massacre into a sex orgy...\" Or a joke.\" Precisely. Arty type...No principles...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William S. Burroughs" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/what-s-with-the-serum-i-don-t-know-but-it-sounds-ominous-we-better/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/william-s-burroughs-528_art_what-s-with-the-serum-i-don-t-know-but-i_546240.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/william-s-burroughs-528_art_what-s-with-the-serum-i-don-t-know-but-i_546240.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/william-s-burroughs-528_art_what-s-with-the-serum-i-don-t-know-but-i_546240.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What's with the serum?\" I don't know, but it sounds ominous. We better put a telepathic direction finder on…” — William S. 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