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" Changes... can only be effected by alterations in the original. The only thing not prerecorded in a prerecorded universe are the prerecordings themselves. The copies can only repeat themselves word for word. A virus is a copy. You can pretty it up, cut it up, scramble it - it will reassemble in the same form. "

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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. "

William S. Burroughs

Career

Living

Trade

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

" Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative. "

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

" Admittedly, a homosexual can be conditioned to react sexually to a woman, or to an old boot for that matter. In fact, both homo - and heterosexual experimental subjects have been conditioned to react sexually to an old boot, and you can save a lot of money that way. "

" The way to kill a man or a nation is to cut off his dreams, the way the whites are taking care of the Indians: killing their dreams, their magic, their familiar spirits. "

" Like all pure creatures, cats are practical. "

" 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.' "

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

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

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

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

William S. Burroughs

Old

People

" The world wasn't a more tolerant place when I was a young man. Rather, they simply sidestepped all the issues. "

" Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective. "

" Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller. "

" Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him. "

" Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole. "

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

" The only possible ethic is to do what one wants to do. "

" Speaking for myself, art differs from writing in that I never know what I'm going to paint until I paint it, so it's almost like automatic writing. A writer, on the other hand, can't help but know what he's going to write, because the activity demands a degree of premeditation. "

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

" You can't fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal. "

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

" 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. "

" 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? "

" Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. "

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

" Gentle reader, the Fountain of Youth is radioactive, and those who imbibe its poisonous heavy waters will suffer the hideous fate of decaying metal. Yet almost without exception, the wretched idiot inhabitants of our benighted planet would gulp down this radioactive excrement if it were offered. "

" A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering. "

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