I feel that opiates - I include opium and all its derivatives, such as morphine, heroin, pantopon, etc. - are quite useless for any sort of creative work, useful though they may be for routine work. Much of the hard physical work in the Far East is done by opium addicts.

In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The dogma of science is that the will cannot possibly affect external forces, and I think that’s just ridiculous. It’s as bad as the church. My viewpoint is the exact contrary of the scientific viewpoint. I believe that if you run into somebody in the street it’s for a reason.

Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it 'creative observation.' Creative viewing.

Faced by the actual practice of freedom, the French and American revolutions would be forced to stand by their words.

Every word is autobiographical, and every word is fiction.

Revolution in America begins in books and music, then waits for political operatives to 'implement changes after the fact.'

Like many nonconformist and beat generation writers, William S. Burroughs takes the outcasts of society as his theme.