William S. Burroughs

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

“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 bu...”

“Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.”

“Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective.”

“A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.”

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

“Visual art and writing don't exist on an aesthetic hierarchy that positions one above the other, because each is capable of things the other can't do at all. Sometimes one picture is equal t...”

“How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity.”

“The purpose of technology is not to confuse the brain but to serve the body.”

“It is indeed difficult to make a living as a writer, and my advice to anyone contemplating a literary career is to have some other trade.”

“My relationships with my cats has saved me from a deadly, pervasive ignorance.”

“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 wretche...”

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

“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.”

“If everyone is to be made responsible for everything they do, you must extend responsibility beyond the level of conscious intention.”

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

“Americans have a special horror of giving up control, of letting things happen in their own way without interference.”

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

“Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him.”

“Some people like neat suburbs. I always am attracted to the rundown and the old and the offbeat.”