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" There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks. "
William S. Burroughs
Two
Who
Society
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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
" Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts. "
William S. Burroughs
Facts
Having
Just
" 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. "
William S. Burroughs
Way
Woman
You
" Language is a virus from outer space. "
William S. Burroughs
Communication
Language
Space
" 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
" Which came first the intestine or the tapeworm? "
William S. Burroughs
First
Came
Which
" Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside. "
William S. Burroughs
Cannot
World
Mark
" 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. "
William S. Burroughs
Way
Nation
Man
" Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer. "
William S. Burroughs
Learning
Questions
You
" The face of evil is always the face of total need. "
William S. Burroughs
Always
Evil
Face
" 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
" 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
" Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective. "
William S. Burroughs
Magic
Black
Casual
" 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
War
Nature
Principles
" 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. "
William S. Burroughs
You
Universe
Same
" Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact. "
William S. Burroughs
Mind
Real
Who
" 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
" Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. "
William S. Burroughs
Everything
Escape
Leave
" Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means. "
William S. Burroughs
Other
Anything
Means
" Nothing is true, everything is permitted. "
William S. Burroughs
Permitted
True
Everything
" 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
" In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality. "
William S. Burroughs
Sadness
Sad
Place
" Like all pure creatures, cats are practical. "
William S. Burroughs
Cats
Pure
Practical
" 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
" 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
" Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative. "
William S. Burroughs
Your
Only
Relative
" An addict never stops growing. Stupider. "
William S. Burroughs
Never
Stops
Stupider
" 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
" Perhaps all pleasure is only relief. "
William S. Burroughs
Pleasure
Relief
Perhaps
" No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death. "
William S. Burroughs
Life
Pick
Up