William S. Burroughs Quotes About Giving

Quotes about: Giving

• The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence. The only way I like to see cops given flowers is in a flower pot from a high window.

  William S. Burroughs

  Love, Hippie, Flower

  William S. Burroughs (1989). “The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs”, Penguin Group USA

• The idea that addiction is somehow a psychological illness is, I think, totally ridiculous. It's as psychological as malaria. It's a matter of exposure. People, generally speaking, will take any intoxicant or any drug that gives them a pleasant effect if it is available to them.

  William S. Burroughs

  Thinking, Ideas, People

  William S. Burroughs (2001). “Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997”, Semiotext

• I meant that people will take anything that gives them a lift, whether it's alcohol or cocaine or the consciousness-expanding drugs or opiates. In Iran, until recently, they sold opium in shops legally, and they had 3,000,000 addicts in a population of 15,000,000. I don't believe that all those people were escaping from "complexes" or anything of the sort. They were simply exposed to it.

  William S. Burroughs

  Believe, Escaping, Iran

• (1) Never give anything away for nothing.
  (2) Never give more than you have to give (always catch the buyer hungry and always make him wait).
  (3) Always take everything back if you possibly can.

  William S. Burroughs

  Giving, Waiting, Hungry

• Any belief in Creators or Purpose is wishful thinking. And when you point out that perhaps ALL thinking is wishful, reactions of intense irritation give evidence that we are not dealing with logic but with faith.

  William S. Burroughs

  Thinking, Irritation, Giving

  William S. Burroughs (2013). “The Adding Machine”, p.121, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

• I have no message to give the politicians of the world. They're all completely addicted to promiscuous verbalization and I'm quite sure they would not be at all interested in hearing about cut-ups and hieroglyphics and still less interested to hear about silence.

  William S. Burroughs

  Cutting, Giving, Silence

  William S. Burroughs (2001). “Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997”, Semiotext

• Forward steps are made by giving up old armor because words are built into you - in the soft typewriter of the womb you do not realize the word-armor you carry; for example, when you read this page your eyes move irresistibly from left to right following the words that you have been accustomed to.

  William S. Burroughs

  Giving Up, Moving, Eye

  Source: realitystudio.org

• England has the most sordid literary scene I've ever seen. They all meet in the same pub. This guy's writing a foreword for this person. They all have to give radio programs, they have to do all this just in order to scrape by. They're all scratching each other's backs.

  William S. Burroughs

  Writing, Order, Giving

  Forbes Magazine (p. 172), April 2, 2001.

• If all individuals were conditioned to machine efficiency in the performance of their duties there would have to be at least one person outside the machine to give the necessary orders; if the machine absorbed or eliminated all those outside the machine, the machine will slow down and stop forever.

  William S. Burroughs

  Order, Giving, Forever

  Source: realitystudio.org

• Junk takes everything and gives nothing but insurance against junk sickness.

  William S. Burroughs

  Giving, Junk, Sickness

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.66, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

• Belief is a meaningless word. What does it mean? I believe something. Okay, now you have someone who is hearing voices and believes in these voices. It doesn't mean they have any necessary reality. Your whole concept of your "I" is an illusion. You have to give something called an "I" before you speak of what the "I" believes.

  William S. Burroughs

  Believe, Mean, Reality

• 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

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Naked Lunch: The Restored Text”, p.179, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

• A John is different from a sucker. When you're with a sucker you're on alert all the time. You give him nothing. A sucker is just to be taken but a John is different. You give him what he pays for. When you're with him you enjoy yourself and you want him to enjoy himself too.

  William S. Burroughs

  Taken, Giving, Want Him

• For instance, they [The Federal Narcotics Bureau ] give out that marijuana is a harmful and habit-forming drug, and it simply isn't. They claim that you can get addicted to opiates with one shot, and you can't. They over-estimate the physical bad effects, and so forth.

  William S. Burroughs

  Marijuana, Giving, Drug

  William S. Burroughs (2001). “Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997”, Semiotext

• Strip your psyche to the bare bones of spontaneous process, and you give yourself one chance in a thousand to make the Pass.

  William S. Burroughs

  Giving, Chance, Bones

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.134, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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