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Quotes from Junkie — William S. Burroughs

1914–1997 United States

← All quotes by William S. Burroughs

17 quotes

Junk takes everything and gives nothing but insurance against junk sickness.

Junkie (1953)

You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in the other direction. Junk wins by default.

Junkie (1953)

When you give up junk, you give up a way of life.

Junkie (1953)

Once a junky, always a junky. You can stop using junk, but you are never off after the first habit.

Junkie (1953)

When people start talking about their bowel movements, they are inexorable as the processes of which they speak.

Junkie (1953)

You need a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere.

Junkie (1953)

A ghost in daylight on a crowded street.

Junkie (1953)

I can say definitely that weed is an aphrodisiac and that sex is more enjoyable under the influence of weed than without it. Anyone who has used good weed will verify this statement.

Junkie (1953)

Coke is pure kick. It lifts you straight up, a mechanical lift that starts leaving you as soon as you feel it

Junkie (1953)

I have learned the junk equation. Junk is not, like alcohol or weed, a means to increased enjoyment of life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life.

Junkie (1953)

When you stop growing you start dying.

Junkie (1953)

The American uppermiddle-class citizen is a composite of negatives. He is largely delineated by what he is not.

Junkie (1953)

Tea heads are gregarious, they are sensitive, and they are paranoiac. If you get to be known as a "drag" or a "bring down," you can't do business with them.

Junkie (1953)

The very rich are getting richer and all the others are going broke. The big holders are not shrewd or ruthless or enterprising. They don't have to say or think anything.

Junkie (1953)

Junk is an inoculation of death that keeps the body in a condition of emergency

Junkie (1953)

Sodomy is as old as the human species.

Junkie (1953)

Kick is seeing things from a special angle. Kick is momentary freedom from the claims of the aging, cautious, nagging, frightened flesh. Maybe I will find in yage what I was looking for in junk and weed and coke.

Junkie (1953)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William S. Burroughs (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.