“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.”

Introduction
Naked Lunch (1959)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update March 19, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "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 freq…" by William S. Burroughs?
William S. Burroughs photo
William S. Burroughs 110
American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, a… 1914–1997

Related quotes

Meg Cabot photo
Femi Taylor photo
John Mulaney photo

“It is so much easier not to do things than to do them that you would do anything is totally remarkable.”

John Mulaney (1982) American actor and comedian

New in Town (2012)

Marlen Esparza photo
Philip K. Dick photo
Joseph Goebbels photo

“I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even yet imagine?”

Ich frage euch: Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg? Wollt ihr ihn, wenn nötig, totaler und radikaler, als wir ihn uns heute überhaupt erst vorstellen können?
Sportpalast speech, 18 February 1943
1940s

James Patterson photo
Vijay Govindarajan photo

Related topics