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" The world wasn't a more tolerant place when I was a young man. Rather, they simply sidestepped all the issues. "
William S. Burroughs
Young Man
Man
Place
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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. "
William S. Burroughs
You
Everyone
Intention
" 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
Visual
Writing
Picture
" In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality. "
William S. Burroughs
Sadness
Sad
Place
" 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? "
William S. Burroughs
Direction
Words
Beautiful
" 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
Serious
Doing
Technology
" Americans have a special horror of giving up control, of letting things happen in their own way without interference. "
William S. Burroughs
Giving
Special
Own
" A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering. "
William S. Burroughs
Eyes
Blue
Hair
" The only possible ethic is to do what one wants to do. "
William S. Burroughs
Wants
Possible
Ethic
" Some people like neat suburbs. I always am attracted to the rundown and the old and the offbeat. "
William S. Burroughs
Like
Old
People
" The face of evil is always the face of total need. "
William S. Burroughs
Always
Evil
Face
" Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy. "
William S. Burroughs
Buy
Will
Through
" Smash the control images. Smash the control machine. "
William S. Burroughs
Smash
Machine
Images
" A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. "
William S. Burroughs
Someone
Paranoid
Little
" Thinking is not enough. There is no final enough of wisdom, experience - any... thing. "
William S. Burroughs
Thinking
Wisdom
Enough
" In the U.S., you have to be a deviant or die of boredom. "
William S. Burroughs
Boredom
You
Die
" In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas, a cosmonaut of inner space, and I see no point in exploring areas that have already been thoroughly surveyed. "
William S. Burroughs
Space
Acting
I Am
" Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller. "
William S. Burroughs
Natural
Love
Most
" Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage. "
William S. Burroughs
His
Who
Man
" 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. "
William S. Burroughs
Time
Down
Style
" 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
God
Eyes
You
" Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts. "
William S. Burroughs
Facts
Having
Just
" A functioning police state needs no police. "
William S. Burroughs
Needs
Police State
State
" Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer. "
William S. Burroughs
Learning
Questions
You
" You must learn to exist with no religion, no country, no allies. You must learn to live alone in silence. "
William S. Burroughs
Silence
Live
Alone
" The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. "
William S. Burroughs
Education
Graduation
Knowledge
" Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective. "
William S. Burroughs
Magic
Black
Casual
" 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. "
William S. Burroughs
Youth
Down
Fate
" Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war. "
William S. Burroughs
Happiness
Conflict
War
" 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. "
William S. Burroughs
Freedom
Body
Knowledge
" Virtue is simply happiness, and happiness is a by-product of function. You are happy when you are functioning. "
William S. Burroughs
Virtue
Happiness
Function