[Arab peoples] are stuck back thousands of years and they think they're going to get out with a TV set. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
I was thinking about New Mexico, and I rounded the corner in New York, and there was a New Mexico license plate:… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Any belief in Creators or Purpose is wishful thinking. And when you point out that perhaps ALL thinking is wishful, reactions of… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
I think there are innumerable gods. What we on earth call God is a little tribal God who has made an awful… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
I think the ideal situation for a family is to be completely incestuous. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
What originally established the band was cover songs like Not Fade Away. Then, later on, we got more well-known ones like Satisfaction,… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
I know this one pusher walks around humming a tune and everybody he passes takes it up. He is so grey and… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Well, "disgusting" doesn't refer to the books but to the subjective reaction of the person making the complaint. I don't think that… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
A doctor is not criticized for describing the manifestations and symptoms of an illness, even though the symptoms may be disgusting. I… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Thinking is not enough. Nothing is. There is no final enough of wisdom, experience — any f...ing thing. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Evidence indicates that cats were first tamed in Egypt. The Egyptians stored grain, which attracted rodents, which attracted cats. (No evidence that… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
“Nobody's busting into YOUR apartment at three in the morning, are they? Well, then don't worry about what they're doing in South… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
I do spend a great deal of time alone. I'm not very gregarious. I don't like parties and miscellaneous gatherings with no… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
You do an awful lot of bad writing in order to do any good writing. Incredibly bad. I think it would be… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Thinking is not enough. There is no final enough of wisdom, experience - any... thing. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
When you get to be my age there are more and more people you have known that you miss. Brion [Gysin], Antony… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
The consciousness-expanding drugs - the hallucinogens, such as cannabis, mescaline, LSD, Psylocybin - I think are useful to a writer up to… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
The study of thinking machines teaches us more about the brain than we can learn by introspective methods. Western man is externalizing… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
The idea that addiction is somehow a psychological illness is, I think, totally ridiculous. It's as psychological as malaria. It's a matter… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Mr. Bradley-Mr. Martin is two people because it is a statement of the impasse of dualistic universe which he has created, they… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
I think all writers write for an audience. There is no such thing as writing for yourself. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
“Control never be a means to any practical end. It can never be a means to anything but more control… Like punk.” — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
“Well as, one judge said to the other, 'Be just and if you can't be just be arbitrary.' Regret cannot observe customary obscenities.” — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.' — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
For seven days she lay in bed looking sullenly at the ceiling as though resenting the death she had cultivated for so many years.… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
Life is a cutup. And to pretend that you write or paint in a timeless vacuum is just simply . . . not .… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
When all lies, deceit, pretense is stripped away, what remains? The truth of a painting, or a book or a man. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
“There is no final enough of wisdom, experience - any fucking thing. No Holy Grail, No Final Satori, no solution. Just conflict. Only thing… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
“For John Dillinger In hope he is still alive Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986 In hope he is still alive Thanks for the wild… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down, you dig,… — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
You need a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image
There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks. — William S. Burroughs Copy Share Image