Conversations with William S. Burroughs (quotes)
“Jim McMenamin: What’s behind the lack of governmental research into this area – Drug Enforcement Administration repression?
Burroughs: Certainly. The DEA doesn’t want to see an effective treatment for narcotics. My God, where would they be if there weren’t any drug addicts?” (p. 176)
“Also, in Egyptian hieroglyphics, while they do have a verb ‘is’, it’s not used the way we use the ‘is’ of identity. They don’t say, ‘He is my sun’ or ‘The sun is in the sky’ but ‘He as my son’ or ‘Sun in sky’. They don’t have to say ‘is’ – they make much less use of the ‘is’ of identity which, as Alfred Korzybski said, is one of the big fuck-ups of Western language. Something ‘is’ something, with the implication that there is some sort of eternal status being conveyed.” (p. 184)
“I wonder if young people today have any wishes. No, it’s not that they aren’t willing to take risks, exactly. There aren’t any risks to be taken. Danger is a very rare commodity in these times, monopolized by intelligence agencies and stuntmen.” (p. 185)
“L.A. Weekly: Do you watch television?
Burroughs: Oh yes. I watch The X-Files. And on Discovery, they often have good natural-history programs. There’s the leaping lemurs and madagascars and, uh, Easter Island.” (p. 225)
