William S. Burroughs

"When you stop growing you start dying."

"The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words."

"Language is a virus from outer space."

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence of such a world is a bafflement to you."

"A sober friend is better than a drunk enemy."

"The essential is to change."

"Censorship is never over for those that have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it."

"Artists to my mind are the real architects of change."

"You cannot use words without music."

"The more you have, the more it owns you."

"Never give a sucker an even break."

"Hustling is fun."

"The ugliest feature on the human face is the eyes of a man who is hiding something."

"Modern America is a fallen religious community."

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

"The face of evil is always the face of total beauty."

"In the information age, you don't teach philosophy as they teach it in the school, suppressing the actual content of the philosophy."

"Junk is the ideal product. The ultimate merchandise."

"I am not the first man to have had this freakish idea of converting the sort of person that society calls a criminal into a walking x-ray."

"Writing gives you a chance to live a lot of different lives."

"The best of luck requires the worst of power."

"I have learned to do without hope."

"The cut-up is the only thing going on."

"Everybody dies."

"You cannot help anyone who does not want help."

"The only way out is through."

"Knowledge is power, but power is what you do with knowledge."

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."

"Most people operate from a fear of being alone."

"In my experience there is only one motivation, and that is desire."