William S. Burroughs Quotes

The face of "evil" is always the face of total need.

evil

Nature is a ruthless teacher.  There are no second chances in Mother Nature's Survival Course.

second chances

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

alcohol

Dope fiends are sick people who cannot act other than they do.  A rabid dog cannot choose but bite.

addiction

The young are an alien species.  They won't replace us by revolution.  They will forget and ignore us out of existence.

youth

You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in any other direction.  Junk wins by default.

addiction motivation

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

artists art

There is the pleasurable orgasm, like a rising sales graph, and there is the unpleasant orgasm, slumping ominously like the Dow Jones in 1929.

orgasms

Junk is the ideal product...the ultimate merchandise [ellipsis in original].  No sales talk necessary.  The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.

addiction

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.

writing

A dope fiend is a man in total need of dope.  Beyond a certain frequency, need knows absolutely no limit or control.  In the words of total need: Wouldn't you?  Yes you would.  You would lie, cheat, inform on your friends, steal, do anything to satisfy total need.

addiction

In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas...a cosmonaut of inner space.

writers