Quotes by William S. Burroughs

About William S. Burroughs:

William Seward Burroughs II is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century". His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war.

William S. Burroughs

Virtue is simply happiness, and happiness is a by-product of function. You are happy when you are functioning.

William S. Burroughs

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

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.

William S. Burroughs

No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death.

William S. Burroughs

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

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

William S. Burroughs

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

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

William S. Burroughs

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

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

William S. Burroughs
Learning quotes by William S. Burroughs, UberQuotes

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

William S. Burroughs

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 an...

William S. Burroughs

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...

William S. Burroughs

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

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.

William S. Burroughs

In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality.

William S. Burroughs

There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.

William S. Burroughs

After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.

William S. Burroughs

Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller.

William S. Burroughs

Our national drug is alcohol. We tend to regard the use any other drug with special horror.

William S. Burroughs

Author Bio

  • NameWilliam S. Burroughs
  • DescriptionAmerican novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer
  • AliasesWilliam Seward Burroughs II
  • BornFebruary 5, 1914
  • DiedAugust 2, 1997
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Poet; Novelist; Essayist; Painter
  • WorksNaked Lunch
  • AwardsChevalier Des Arts Et Des Lettres?