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" Americans have a special horror of giving up control, of letting things happen in their own way without interference. "

William S. Burroughs

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" No body of knowledge needs an organizational policy. Organizational policy can only impede the advancement of knowledge. There is a basic incompatibility between any organization and freedom of thought. "

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" The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. "

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" No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death. "

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" I started to write in about 1950; I was thirty-five at the time; there didn't seem to be any strong motivation. I simply was endeavoring to put down in a more or less straightforward journalistic style something about my experiences with addiction and addicts. "

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" It is indeed difficult to make a living as a writer, and my advice to anyone contemplating a literary career is to have some other trade. "

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" Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war. "

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" Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy. "

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" If everyone is to be made responsible for everything they do, you must extend responsibility beyond the level of conscious intention. "

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" I see no reason why the artistic world can't absolutely merge with Madison Avenue. Pop art is a move in that direction. Why can't we have advertisements with beautiful words and beautiful images? "

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" Virtue is simply happiness, and happiness is a by-product of function. You are happy when you are functioning. "

William S. Burroughs

" Our national drug is alcohol. We tend to regard the use any other drug with special horror. "

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" Most serious writers refuse to make themselves available to the things that technology is doing. I've never been able to understand this sort of fear. "

William S. Burroughs

" A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. "

William S. Burroughs

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

William S. Burroughs

" Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact. "

William S. Burroughs

" A functioning police state needs no police. "

William S. Burroughs

" This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games. "

William S. Burroughs

" In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality. "

William S. Burroughs

" Language is a virus from outer space. "

William S. Burroughs

" Visual art and writing don't exist on an aesthetic hierarchy that positions one above the other, because each is capable of things the other can't do at all. Sometimes one picture is equal to 30 pages of discourse, just as there are things images are completely incapable of communicating. "

William S. Burroughs

" After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military. "

William S. Burroughs

" Perhaps all pleasure is only relief. "

William S. Burroughs

" Some people like neat suburbs. I always am attracted to the rundown and the old and the offbeat. "

William S. Burroughs

" Most people don't see what's going on around them. That's my principal message to writers: 'For God's sake, keep your eyes open. Notice what's going on around you.' "

William S. Burroughs

" Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means. "

William S. Burroughs

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

William S. Burroughs

" There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks. "

William S. Burroughs

" Thinking is not enough. There is no final enough of wisdom, experience - any... thing. "

William S. Burroughs

" The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself. Of course he wants care and shelter. You don't buy love for nothing. "

William S. Burroughs

" The purpose of technology is not to confuse the brain but to serve the body. "

William S. Burroughs