William S. Burroughs quotes - page 6

The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. (William S. Burroughs)
There is simply no room left for 'freedom from the tyranny of government' since city dwellers depend on it for food, power, water, transportation, protection, and welfare. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Tea heads are not like junkies. A junky hands you the money, takes his junk and cuts. But tea heads don't do things that way. They expect the peddler to light them up and sit around talking for half an hour to sell two dollars' worth of weed. If you come right to the point, they say you are a "bring down." View quote
William S. Burroughs
Only a miracle or a disaster could restore it. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Like many people who have nothing to do, he was very resentful of any claims on his time. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? View quote
William S. Burroughs
Cut word lines - Cut music lines - Smash the control images - Smash the control machine. View quote
William S. Burroughs
They had no business of their own to mind because they didn't belong to themselves any more. They belonged to the virus. They had to kill torture conquer enslave degrade as a mad dog has to bite. At Hiroshima all was lost. View quote
William S. Burroughs
The end result of complete cellular representation is cancer. Democracy is cancerous, and bureaus are its cancer. View quote
William S. Burroughs
The very rich are getting richer and all the others are going broke. The big holders are not shrewd or ruthless or enterprising. They don't have to say or think anything. View quote
William S. Burroughs
So we pour it in a Pernod bottle and start for New Orleans past iridescent lakes and orange gas flares, and swamps and garbage heaps, alligators crawling around in broken bottles and tin cans, neon arabesques of motels, marooned pimps scream obscenities at passing cars from islands of rubbish ... (William S. Burroughs)
Once a junky, always a junky. You can stop using junk, but you are never off after the first habit. View quote
William S. Burroughs
You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in the other direction. Junk wins by default. View quote
William S. Burroughs
I don't know how to care for the child. But I am dedicated to protecting and nurturing him at any cost! It is the function of the Guardian to protect hybrids and mutants in the vulnerable stage of infancy. View quote
William S. Burroughs
When you give up junk, you give up a way of life. View quote
William S. Burroughs
From symbiosis to parasitism is a short step. The word is now a virus. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Bureaus die when the structure of the state collapse. They are as helpless and unfit for independent existence as a displaced tapeworm, or a virus that has killed the host. View quote
William S. Burroughs
A bureau operates on opposite principles of inventing needs to justify its existence. View quote
William S. Burroughs
But nerve connections were blocked and infiltrated and atrophied so the brain couldn't give orders any more. It was trapped in the skull, sealed off. For a while you could see the silent, helpless suffering of the brain behind the eyes, then finally the brain must have died, because the eyes went out, and there was no more feeling in them than a crab's eyes on the end of a stalk. View quote
William S. Burroughs
The middle class is getting the squeeze, and only one in a thousand will go up. The Big Holders are the house, and the small farmers are the players. The player goes broke if he keeps on playing, and the farmer has to play or lose to the Government by default. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Peoples of the earth, you have all been poisoned. (William S. Burroughs)
The world wasn't a more tolerant place when I was a young man. Rather, they simply sidestepped all the issues. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Americans have a special horror of giving up control, of letting things happen in their own way without interference. View quote
William S. Burroughs
Some people like neat suburbs. I always am attracted to the rundown and the old and the offbeat. View quote
William S. Burroughs
In the U.S., you have to be a deviant or die of boredom. View quote
William S. Burroughs