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Top 300 William S. Burroughs Quotes (2025 Update)
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William S. Burroughs Quote: “As one judge said to another judge: be just. And if you can’t be just, be arbitrary.”

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

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “The Hindus teach that the Heaven World is more dangerous for the soul than the Hell World, since it is more deceptive and conduces to the fatal error of overconfidence and assumption of immunity. Like a fighter the soul must be constantly in training lest it grow soft on an ephemeral throne. So the splendor of the palace, the constant parades, the state barges, the gold and lapis lazuli, the chariots and bowmen, eat away one’s awareness of the ultimate reality of conflict...”

302. “The Hindus teach that the Heaven World is more dangerous for the soul than the Hell World, since it is more deceptive and conduces to the fatal error of overconfidence and assumption of immunity. Like a fighter the soul must be constantly in training lest it grow soft on an ephemeral throne. So the splendor of the palace, the constant parades, the state barges, the gold and lapis lazuli, the chariots and bowmen, eat away one’s awareness of the ultimate reality of conflict...”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Kid, it was tasty.”

303. “Kid, it was tasty.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “The Composite City where all human potentials are spread out in a vast silent market.”

304. “The Composite City where all human potentials are spread out in a vast silent market.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Now when dealing with an adversary the strategy is to inveigle him or her into your territory. Instead of crossing the river, bring the people on the other side to your side, where you know the country and can marshal your allies.”

305. “Now when dealing with an adversary the strategy is to inveigle him or her into your territory. Instead of crossing the river, bring the people on the other side to your side, where you know the country and can marshal your allies.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “I have learned the cellular stoicism that junk teaches the user. I have seen a cell full of sick junkies silent and immobile in separate misery. They knew the pointlessness of complaining or moving. They knew that basically no one can help anyone else. There is no key, no secret someone else has that he can give you.”

306. “I have learned the cellular stoicism that junk teaches the user. I have seen a cell full of sick junkies silent and immobile in separate misery. They knew the pointlessness of complaining or moving. They knew that basically no one can help anyone else. There is no key, no secret someone else has that he can give you.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Here we are in plague-stricken New York? Airborne AIDS, is it? And you figure to levitate your way out.”

307. “Here we are in plague-stricken New York? Airborne AIDS, is it? And you figure to levitate your way out.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “But the enemy needs bodies to get around.”

308. “But the enemy needs bodies to get around.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “This cat book is an allegory, in which the writer’s past life is presented to him in a cat charade. Not that the cats are puppets. Far from it. They are living, breathing creatures, and when any other being is contacted, it is sad: because you see the limitations, the pain and fear and the final death. That is what contact means. That is what I see when I touch a cat and find that tears are flowing down my face.”

309. “This cat book is an allegory, in which the writer’s past life is presented to him in a cat charade. Not that the cats are puppets. Far from it. They are living, breathing creatures, and when any other being is contacted, it is sad: because you see the limitations, the pain and fear and the final death. That is what contact means. That is what I see when I touch a cat and find that tears are flowing down my face.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “El trabajo manual hace pasar las horas de prisa.”

310. “El trabajo manual hace pasar las horas de prisa.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “I am the cat who walks alone. And to me all supermarkets are alike.”

311. “I am the cat who walks alone. And to me all supermarkets are alike.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Lee did not enjoy frustration. The limitations of his desires were like the bars of a cage, like a chain and collar, something that he had learned as an animal learns, through days and years of experiencing the snub of the chain, the unyielding bars. He had never resigned himself, and his eyes looked out through invisible bars, watchful, alert, waiting for the keeper to forget the door, for the frayed collar, the loosened bar... suffering without despair and without consent.”

312. “Lee did not enjoy frustration. The limitations of his desires were like the bars of a cage, like a chain and collar, something that he had learned as an animal learns, through days and years of experiencing the snub of the chain, the unyielding bars. He had never resigned himself, and his eyes looked out through invisible bars, watchful, alert, waiting for the keeper to forget the door, for the frayed collar, the loosened bar... suffering without despair and without consent.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “If his charge connection is cut off cold, the Oblique Addict falls into such violent electric convulsions that his bones shake loose, and he dies with the skeleton straining to climb out of its unendurable flesh and run in a straight line to the nearest cemetery.”

313. “If his charge connection is cut off cold, the Oblique Addict falls into such violent electric convulsions that his bones shake loose, and he dies with the skeleton straining to climb out of its unendurable flesh and run in a straight line to the nearest cemetery.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “The figure had emerged from a lightless region where everything we have been taught, all the conventional feelings, do not apply.”

314. “The figure had emerged from a lightless region where everything we have been taught, all the conventional feelings, do not apply.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “This planet is a penal colony and nobody is allowed to leave.”

315. “This planet is a penal colony and nobody is allowed to leave.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Do not be in a hurry to dispose of old enemies. What would you do without them?”

316. “Do not be in a hurry to dispose of old enemies. What would you do without them?”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Land of the Dead. No breakfast. No liquor. No dinner.”

317. “Land of the Dead. No breakfast. No liquor. No dinner.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “I deplore brutality, he said, It’s not efficient. On the other hand, prolonged mistreatment, short of physical violence, gives rise, when skillfully applied, to anxiety and a feeling of special guilt.”

318. “I deplore brutality, he said, It’s not efficient. On the other hand, prolonged mistreatment, short of physical violence, gives rise, when skillfully applied, to anxiety and a feeling of special guilt.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “I remembered a long time ago when I lay in bed beside my mother, watching lights from the street move across the ceiling and down the walls. I felt the sharp nostalgia of train whistles, piano music down a city street, burning leaves. A mild degree of junk sickness always brought me the magic of childhood.”

319. “I remembered a long time ago when I lay in bed beside my mother, watching lights from the street move across the ceiling and down the walls. I felt the sharp nostalgia of train whistles, piano music down a city street, burning leaves. A mild degree of junk sickness always brought me the magic of childhood.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Now my inspiration but it won’t last and we’ll be just a photograph – i.”

320. “Now my inspiration but it won’t last and we’ll be just a photograph – i.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Governments fall from sheer indifference. Authority figures, deprived of the vampiric energy they suck off their constituents, are seen for what they are: dead empty masks manipulated by computers. And what is behind the computers? Remote control.”

321. “Governments fall from sheer indifference. Authority figures, deprived of the vampiric energy they suck off their constituents, are seen for what they are: dead empty masks manipulated by computers. And what is behind the computers? Remote control.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Life is a school where every pupil must learn a different lesson.”

322. “Life is a school where every pupil must learn a different lesson.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Or suppose you are a singer. Well splice your singing in with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals. Splice yourself in with newscasters, prime ministers, presidents. Why stop there? Why stop anywhere? Everybody splice himself in with everybody else.”

323. “Or suppose you are a singer. Well splice your singing in with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals. Splice yourself in with newscasters, prime ministers, presidents. Why stop there? Why stop anywhere? Everybody splice himself in with everybody else.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “Western man is externalizing himself in the form of gadgets.”

324. “Western man is externalizing himself in the form of gadgets.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “These colorless sheets are what flesh is made from – Becomes flesh when it has color and writing – That is Word And Image write the message that is you on colorless sheets determine all flesh.”

325. “These colorless sheets are what flesh is made from – Becomes flesh when it has color and writing – That is Word And Image write the message that is you on colorless sheets determine all flesh.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “There are other tricks: the use of generalities like “the man in the street” and the editorial “we” to establish a rapport of disapproval with the reader and at the same time to create a mental lacuna under cover of an insubstantial and unspecified “we.” And the technique of the misunderstood word: pack a review with obscure words that send the reader to a dictionary. Soon the reader will feel a vague, slightly queasy revulsion for whatever is under discussion.”

326. “There are other tricks: the use of generalities like “the man in the street” and the editorial “we” to establish a rapport of disapproval with the reader and at the same time to create a mental lacuna under cover of an insubstantial and unspecified “we.” And the technique of the misunderstood word: pack a review with obscure words that send the reader to a dictionary. Soon the reader will feel a vague, slightly queasy revulsion for whatever is under discussion.”

— William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs Quote: “A group of children have tied an idiot to a post with barbed wire and built a fire between his legs and stand watching with bestial curiosity as the flames lick his thighs. His flesh jerks in the fire with insect agony.”

327. “A group of children have tied an idiot to a post with barbed wire and built a fire between his legs and stand watching with bestial curiosity as the flames lick his thighs. His flesh jerks in the fire with insect agony.”

— William S. Burroughs

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Complaining Quotes

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