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William S. Burroughs

14 quotes

William S. Burroughs is the kind of thinker who lets the words do the talking — and they talk volumes. Their thinking spans from Society to Knowledge, revealing a mind that refused to stay in one lane. Our collection holds 17 quotes from William S. Burroughs, each offering a different angle on Society, Knowledge, Change, War, and Travel. Readers often gravitate to this one: "In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality."

“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.”

— William S. Burroughs

Society

All Quotes by William S. Burroughs

“The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values.”

— William S. Burroughs

Education

“Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has.”

— William S. Burroughs

Business

“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.”

— William S. Burroughs

Learning

“Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.”

— William S. Burroughs

Travel

“The way to kill a man or a nation is to cut off his dreams, the way the whites are taking care of the Indians: killing their dreams, their magic, their familiar spirits.”

— William S. Burroughs

Dreams

“Admittedly, a homosexual can be conditioned to react sexually to a woman, or to an old boot for that matter. In fact, both homo - and heterosexual experimental subjects have been conditioned to react sexually to an old boot, and you can save a lot of money that way.”

— William S. Burroughs

Money

“Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war.”

— William S. Burroughs

Happiness

“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.”

— William S. Burroughs

Society

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

— William S. Burroughs

Change

“Like all pure creatures, cats are practical.”

— William S. Burroughs

Pet

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

— William S. Burroughs

Change

“In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality.”

— William S. Burroughs

Sad

“There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.”

— William S. Burroughs

Society

“Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative.”

— William S. Burroughs

Knowledge