William S. Burroughs Quotes

We must all face the fact that our leaders are certifiably insane or worse

What does the money machine eat? It eats youth, spontaneity, life, beauty, and, above all, it eats creativity. It eats quality and sh*ts quantity.

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

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

Life is a vacation from two eternities.

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

Open your mind and let the pictures out

I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.

There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.

I think anybody incapable of changing his mind is crazy.

Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you can build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.

No one is ever really alone. You are part of everything alive.

When you cut into the present the future leaks out.

How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity.

By the flaws in the picture the truth will emerge.

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

The best way to keep something bad from happening is to see it ahead of time… and you can’t see it if you refuse to face the possibility.

If you are asking me what the individual can do right now, in a political sense, I’d have to say he can’t do all that much. Speaking for myself, I am more concerned with the transformation of the individual, which to me is much more important than the so-called political revolution.

In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The dogma of science is that the will cannot possibly affect external forces, and I think that’s just ridiculous. It’s as bad as the church. My viewpoint is the exact contrary of the scientific viewpoint. I believe that if you run into somebody in the street it’s for a reason.

There are no innocent bystanders … what are they doing there in the first place?

Panic is the sudden realization that everything around you is alive.

After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.

There is no line between the ‘real world’ and ‘world of myth and symbol.’ Objects, sensations, hit with the impact of hallucination.

In the U.S., you have to be a deviant or die of boredom.

The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself.