I am trying like Klee, to create something that will have a life of its own, that can put me in real danger, a danger which I willingly take on myself. William S. Burroughs More Quotes by William S. Burroughs More Quotes From William S. Burroughs We must find out what words are and how they function. They become images when written down, but images of words repeated in the mind and not of the image of the thing itself. William S. Burroughs function written mind 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. William S. Burroughs writing hands art They tend to be suspicious, bristly, paranoid-type people with huge egos they push around like some elephantiasis victim with his distended testicles in a wheelbarrow terrified no doubt that some skulking ingrate of a clone student will sneak into his very brain and steal his genius work. William S. Burroughs ego science people Thinking is not enough. Nothing is. There is no final enough of wisdom, experience — any f...ing thing. William S. Burroughs wisdom-experience finals thinking Tell Allen I plead guilty to vampirism and other crimes against life. But I love him and nothing else cancels love. William S. Burroughs i-love-him guilty crime 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 fate suffering water danger is a biologic necessity, like dreams. if you face death, for that time, for the period of direct confrontation, you are immortal. William S. Burroughs danger dream faces Last night I encountered a dream cat with a very long neck and a body like a human fetus, gray and transluscent. I don't know what it needs or how to provide for it. Another dream years ago of a human child with eyes on stalks. It is very small, but can walk and talk "Don't you want me?" Again, I don't know how to care for the child. But I am dedicated to protecting and nurturing him at any cost! It is the function of the Guardian to protect hybrids and mutants in the vulnerable stage of infancy. William S. Burroughs cat dream children Everything Jack says is to be taken with considerable reserve. William S. Burroughs reserves taken A junky runs on junk time. When the junk is cut off, the clock runs down and stops. All he can do is hang on and wait for non-junky time to start. A sick junky has no escape from external time, no place to go. He can only wait. William S. Burroughs cutting sick running Madness is confusion of levels of fact. . . . Madness is not seeing visions but confusing levels. William S. Burroughs confusing vision confusion The American uppermiddle-class citizen is a composite of negatives. He is largely delineated by what he is not. William S. Burroughs composites citizens class The idea that anyone can use drugs and escape a horrible fate is anathema to these idiots. I predict in the near future right-wingers will use drug hysteria as a pretext to set up an international police apparatus. William S. Burroughs hysteria fate ideas The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set-up by the non-dreamers William S. Burroughs spontaneous dangerous dream Out of the closets and into the museums, libraries, architectural monuments, concert halls, bookstores, recording studios and film studios of the world. Everything belongs to the inspired and dedicated thief…. Words, colors, light, sounds, stone, wood, bronze belong to the living artist. They belong to anyone who can use them. Loot the Louvre! A bas l’originalité, the sterile and assertive ego that imprisons us as it creates. Vive le vol-pure, shameless, total. We are not responsible. Steal anything in sight. William S. Burroughs color artist museums The purpose of technology is not to confuse the brain but to serve the body. William S. Burroughs technology purpose brain You were given the power to love in order to use it, no matter what pain it may cause you. William S. Burroughs pain use order Americans have a special horror of giving up control, of letting things happen in their own way without interference. William S. Burroughs giving-up special way Scientology is a model control system, a state in fact with its own courts, police, rewards and penalties. William S. Burroughs rewards police facts No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death. William S. Burroughs frying frying-pans death
