Writing

William S. Burroughs on Writing

Browse 7 quotations attributed to William S. Burroughs, catalogued under writing, with dates where available.

Literature
United States
7 quotes

This page displays 7 quotations attributed to William S. Burroughs and filed under "writing" in QuoteLineage. The selection is ordered by stored importance and quality scores, not citation counts. A topic label describes how an entry is catalogued; it does not establish the theme's importance in the author's work.

Attributed to William S. Burroughs, entry #174237: "Language Is A Virus Online Cut-Up Machine, the cut-up writing technique"

Attributed to William S. Burroughs, entry #206587: "Interzone.org 5 linked websites on William Burroughs and Brion Gysin."

7 Quotes by William S. Burroughs on Writing

"Language Is A Virus Online Cut-Up Machine, the cut-up writing technique"

— William S. Burroughs

"Interzone.org 5 linked websites on William Burroughs and Brion Gysin."

— William S. Burroughs

"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

"Youth rebellion is a world wide phenomenon that has not been seen before in history. I don't believe they will calm down and be ad execs at thirty as the establishment would like to believe. Millions of young people all over the world are fed up with shallow unworthy authority running on a platform of bullshit."

— William S. Burroughs

"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

"I will tell you: "'the word.'" Alien Word 'the.' "'The word'" of Alien Enemy imprisons "'thee'" in Time. In Body. In Shit. Prisoner, come out. The great skies are open. I Hassan i Sabbah 'rub out the word forever' If you I cancel all your words forever. And the of Hassan i Sabbah as also cancel. Cross all your skies see the silent writing of Brion Gysin Hassan i Sabbah: drew September 16, 1899 over New York."

— William S. Burroughs

"Senators leap up and bray for the Death Penalty with inflexible authority of virus yen... Death for dope fiends, death for sex queens death for the psychopath who offends the cowed and graceless flesh with broken animal innocence of lithe movements. The black wind of death undulates over the land, feeling, smelling for the crime of separate life, movers of the fear-frozen flesh shivering under a vast probability curve... Populations blocks disappear in a checker game of genocide... Any number can play..."

— William S. Burroughs