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

Paranoia is just having the right information.

William S. Burroughs

Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death.

William S. Burroughs

The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set-up by the non-dreamers

William S. Burroughs

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, w...

William S. Burroughs

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...

William S. Burroughs

How long does it take man to realize that he cannot want what he wants? You have to live in hell to see heaven.

William S. Burroughs

Poverty, hatred, war, police-criminals, bureaucracy, insanity, all symptoms of The Human Virus.

William S. Burroughs

Cheat your landlord if you can and must, but do not try to shortchange the Muse. It cannot be done. You can't fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal.

William S. Burroughs

Intelligence and war are games, perhaps the only meaningful games left. If any player becomes too proficient, the game is threatened with termination.

William S. Burroughs

Jesus Christ said 'by their fruits ye shall know them,' not by their disclaimers.

William S. Burroughs

As one judge said to another judge: be just. And if you can’t be just, be arbitrary

William S. Burroughs

We intend to destroy all dogmatic verbal systems.

William S. Burroughs

Cheat your landlord if you can -- and must -- but do not try to shortchange the Muse.

William S. Burroughs

My characters are quite as real to me as so-called real people; which is one reason why I'm not subject to what is known as loneliness. I have plenty of company.

William S. Burroughs

There is no intensity of love or feeling that does not involve the risk of crippling hurt. It is a duty to take this risk, to love and feel without defense or reserve.

William S. Burroughs

There is in fact something obscene and sinister about photography, a desire to imprison, to incorporate, a sexual intensity of pursuit.

William S. Burroughs

Political conflicts are merely surface manifestations. If conflicts arise you may be sure that certain powers intend to keep this conflict under operation since they hope to profit from the situation. To concern yourself with surface political confli...

William S. Burroughs

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.

William S. Burroughs

That old feeling is still in my leaking heart.

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?