“From symbiosis to parasitism is a short step. The word is now a virus.”
The Ticket That Exploded (1962)
Context: The 'Other Half' is the word. The 'Other Half' is an organism. Word is an organism. The presence of the 'Other Half' is a separate organism attached to your nervous system on an air line of words can now be demonstrated experimentally. One of the most common 'hallucinations' of subject during sense withdrawal is the feeling of another body sprawled through the subject's body at an angle... yes quite an angle it is the 'Other Half' worked quite some years on a symbiotic basis. From symbiosis to parasitism is a short step. The word is now a virus. The flu virus may have once been a healthy lung cell. It is now a parasitic organism that invades and damages the central nervous system. Modern man has lost the option of silence. Try halting sub-vocal speech. Try to achieve even ten seconds of inner silence. You will encounter a resisting organism that forces you to talk. That organism is the word.
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William S. Burroughs 110
American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, a… 1914–1997Related quotes
“People seem to get used to anything, and it is a short step from adaptation to attachment.”
Source: We Need to Talk About Kevin
“From Jewish terrorism against Arabs it is a short step to Jewish terrorism against Jews.”
"On three fronts" (3 August 1938) as quoted in * Rebirth and Destiny of Israel
1954
91
Philosophical Library
New York.
“The very word "exist" derives from "to step forth, to stand out."”
Re: Lisp advocacy misadventures http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/a05e5e2737bddd69 (Usenet article).
Usenet articles, Miscellaneous
Viruses of the Mind (1993)
“Broadly speaking, short words are best, and the old words, when short, are best of all.”
Speech on receiving the London Times Literary Award November 2, 1949
Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, Hyperion (2003), p. 453 ISBN ISBN 1401300561
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Source: Never Give In!: The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches
Islam Incorporated and the Parties of Interzone
Naked Lunch (1959)