William S. Burroughs Ipsum

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. our national drug is alcohol. we tend to regard the use any other drug with special horror. most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has. a paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. a psychotic is a guy who's just found out what's going on. the first and most important thing an individual can do is to become an individual again, decontrol himself, train himself as to what is going on and win back as much independent ground for himself as possible never do business with a religious son-of-a-bitch. his word ain't worth a shit -- not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal. the question is frequently asked: why does a man become a drug addict? the answer is that he usually does not intend to become an addict. you don't wake up one morning and decide to be a drug addict. it takes at least three months' shooting twice a day to get any habit at all. and you don't really know what junk sickness is until you have had several habits. it took me almost six months to get my first habit, and then the withdrawal symptoms were mild. i think it no exaggeration to say it takes about a year and several hundred injections to make an addict. the questions, of course, could be asked: why did you ever try narcotics? why did you continue using it long enough to become an addict? you become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in the other direction. junk wins by default. i tried it as a matter of curiosity. i drifted along taking shots when i could score. i ended up hooked. most addicts i have talked to report a similar experience. they did not start using drugs for any reason they can remember. they just drifted along until they got hooked. if you have never been addicted, you can have no clear idea what it means to need junk with the addict's special need. you don't decide to be an addict. one morning you wake up sick and you're an addict. (junky, prologue, p. xxxviii) when you stop growing you start dying. the best way to keep something bad from happening is to see it ahead of time... and you can't see it if you refuse to face the possibility. it's the little touches that make a future solid enough to destroy. as soon as you know you are in prison, you have a possibility to escape. and to start with it was like a novelty ventriloquist act. after a while, the ass started talking on its own. he would go in without anything prepared... and his ass would ad-lib and toss the gags back at him every time. beating at it with his fists... i can talk and eat and shit." after that, he began waking up and grow there. than a crab's eye at the end of a stalk..

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer. a functioning police state needs no police. our national drug is alcohol. we tend to regard the use any other drug with special horror. how i hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity. sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts. i am getting so far out one day i won't come back at all. like all pure creatures, cats are practical. perhaps all pleasure is only relief. your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative. i don't care if people hate my guts; i assume most of them do. the important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. if i had my way we'd sleep every night all wrapped around each other like hibernating rattlesnakes. i am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. i don't care if people hate my guts; i assume most of them do. the important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. my affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits. smash the control images. smash the control machine. man is an artifact designed for space travel. he is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole. thou shalt not be such a shit, you don't know you are one. you know a real friend? someone you know will look after your cat after you are gone. hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside. it is to be remembered that all art is magical in origin - music, sculpture, writing, painting - and by magical i mean intended to produce very definite results. paintings were originally formulae to make what is painted happen. art is not an end in itself, any more than einstein's matter-into-energy formulae is an end in itself. like all formulae, art was originally functional, intended to make things happen, the way an atom bomb happens from einstein's formulae. a cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering. we are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of true romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. i do not say lonely -- at least, not all the time -- but essentially, and finally, alone. this is what makes your self-respect so important, and i don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness danger is a biologic necessity, like dreams. if you face death, for that time, for the period of direct confrontation, you are immortal. how i hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity. nothing did any good, "it is you who will shut up i can talk and eat and shit." and the whole head... that's the one thing because the eyes went out....

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer. a functioning police state needs no police. admittedly, a homosexual can be conditioned to react sexually to a woman, or to an old boot for that matter. in fact, both homo - and heterosexual experimental subjects have been conditioned to react sexually to an old boot, and you can save a lot of money that way. how i hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity. every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage. there couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. they'd be dead in two weeks. black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. casual curses are the most effective. hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside. junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. no sales talk necessary. the client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy. silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing. after one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say i want to see the manager. smash the control images. smash the control machine. the best way to keep something bad from happening is to see it ahead of time... and you can't see it if you refuse to face the possibility. hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside. danger is a biologic necessity, like dreams. if you face death, for that time, for the period of direct confrontation, you are immortal. open your mind and let the pictures out. that old feeling is still in my leaking heart. his pants and start talking on the street... it would get drunk, too, and have crying jags. same as any other mouth. finally, it talked all the time, you could hear him for blocks, beating at it with his fists... nothing did any good, and the pieces would stick to his hands... that the asshole couldn't do was see. sealed off. the silent, helpless suffering the brain must have died... what a horrible loutish planet this is. the dominant species consists of sadistic morons, faces bearing the hideous lineaments of spiritual famine swollen with stupid hate. hopeless rubbish..