William S. Burroughs: Doing

William S. Burroughs was American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. Explore interesting quotes on doing.
William S. Burroughs: 220   quotes 24   likes

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

William S. Burroughs book Junkie

Prologue
Junkie (1953)
Context: The questions, of course, could be asked: Why did you ever try narcotics? Why did you continue using it long enough to become an addict? You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in the other direction. Junk wins by default. I tried it as a matter of curiosity.

Motivation , Strong

“A junky runs on junk time. When his junk is cut off, the clock runs down and stops. All he can do is hang on and wait for non-junk time to start. A sick junkie has no escape from external time, no place to go. He can only wait.”

William S. Burroughs book Junkie

Junkie (1953)

Time , Waiting

“The face of "evil" is always the face of total need. 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. Because you would be in a state of total sickness, total possession, and not in a position to act in any other way. Dope fiends are sick people who cannot act other than they do. A rabid dog cannot choose but bite.”

William S. Burroughs book Naked Lunch

Introduction
Naked Lunch (1959)

People , Lie , Dogs , Way

“Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful — be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.”

William S. Burroughs

Recounted by Patti Smith in an Interview by Christian Lund http://vimeo.com/57857893, the Louisiana Literature festival August 24, 2012, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Money , Success

“Cheat your landlord if you can and must, but do not try to shortchange the Muse. It cannot be done. You can't fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal.”

William S. Burroughs book The Western Lands

Source: The Western Lands (1987), ch. 2

Cheating

“He felt a killing hate for the stupid, ordinary, disapproving people who kept him from doing what he wanted to do.”

William S. Burroughs book Queer

Source: Queer: A Novel (1985), Chapter Nine

Hate , People , Stupidity

“Like many people who have nothing to do, he was very resentful of any claims on his time.”

William S. Burroughs

Source: Queer: A Novel (1985), Chapter Five
Context: He forced himself to look at the facts. Allerton was not queer enough to make a reciprocal relation possible. Lee's affection irritated him. Like many people who have nothing to do, he was very resentful of any claims on his time. He had no close friends. He disliked definite appointments. He did not like to feel that anybody expected anything from him. He wanted, so far as possible, to live without external pressure.

People , Time

“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it.”

William S. Burroughs

I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.
Grand Street, no. 37 & The War Universe (1992)

People

“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 to scrape by. They're all scratching each other's backs.”

William S. Burroughs

Forbes (2 April 2001), p. 172

Guy , Personality

“After teaching a class in Creative Writing a few years back, my own creative powers fell to an all0time low. I really had a case of writer's block, and my idealistic young assistant complained that I simply sat around the loft doing absolutely nothing-which was absolutely true. This gave me time to think (as the French say): Can creative writing be taught?”

William S. Burroughs book The Adding Machine: Collected Essays

"A Word to the Wise Guy"
The Adding Machine: Collected Essays (1985)

Thinking , Time

“Consider the impasse of a one-God universe. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He can't go anywhere, since He is already everywhere. He can't do anything, since the act of doing presupposes opposition. His universe is irrevocably thermodynamic, having no friction by definition. So, He has to create friction: War, Fear, Sickness, Death, to keep his dying show on the road.”

William S. Burroughs book The Western Lands

lyric from spoken-word recording "A One God Universe," featured on Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales, paraphrased by Burroughs from The Western Lands, p. 113
The Western Lands (1987)

Death , God , War , Fear

“The purpose of my writing is to expose and arrest Nova Criminals. In 'Naked Lunch', 'Soft Machine' and 'Nova Express' I show who they are and what they are doing and what they will do if they are not arrested. Minutes to go. Souls rotten from their orgasm drugs, flesh shuddering from their nova ovens, prisoners of the earth to 'come out'. With your help we can occupy The Reality Studio and retake their universe of Fear Death and Monopoly”

William S. Burroughs book Nova Express

Source: Nova Express (1968), Chapter One, Prisoners, Come Out

Death , Fear , Soul , Reality

“You sometimes wake up from a dream and think, "Thank God, I didn't really do that!" Reconstructing a period of blackout you think, "My God, did I really do that?" The line between saying and thinking is blurred. Did you say it or just think it?”

William S. Burroughs book Junkie

Junkie (1953)

God , Dreams , Thinking

“There is only one thing a writer can write about: what is in front of his senses at the moment of writing… I am a recording instrument… I do not presume to impose "story "plot" "continuity"… Insofar as I succeed in Direct recording of certain areas of psychic process I may have limited function… I am not an entertainer.”

William S. Burroughs book Naked Lunch

Atrophied Preface
Naked Lunch (1959)

Sense

“Tea heads are gregarious, they are sensitive, and they are paranoiac. If you get to be known as a "drag" or a "bring down," you can't do business with them.”

William S. Burroughs book Junkie

Junkie (1953)

Business , Tea

“Before my father started using morphine again he sent me to a Japanese person to learn something called Karate. I learn these things fast because I am blank inside, and I have no special way of moving or doing things so one way is the same to me as another. ‘”

William S. Burroughs book The Wild Boys

The Wild Boys (1971)

Way , Learning , Personality

“Tea heads are not like junkies. A junky hands you the money, takes his junk and cuts. But tea heads don't do things that way. They expect the peddler to light them up and sit around talking for half an hour to sell two dollars' worth of weed. If you come right to the point, they say you are a "bring down."”

William S. Burroughs book Junkie

In fact, a peddler should not come right out and say he is a peddler.
Junkie (1953)

Money , Way , Light , Tea

“I am not a person and I am not an animal. There is something I am here for something I must do before I can go.”

William S. Burroughs book The Wild Boys

The Wild Boys (1971)

Animals , Personality