William S. Burroughs Quotes

Speaking for myself, art differs from writing in that I never know what I'm going to paint until I paint it, so it's almost like automatic writing. A writer, on the other hand, can't help but know what he's going to write, because the activity demands a degree of premeditation.

William S. Burroughs

• Writing
• Art
• Helping
• Paint
• Degrees

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Quotes to Explore

• There was a time when I was practicing law in New York and I wanted to find something else to do. So I ended up leaving the practice of law to pursue my art and it just happened to be out of Lego bricks.

  

  Nathan Sawaya
  • Up
  • Time
  • Art

• There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

  

  Samuel Johnson
  • Great
  • Art
  • Happiness

• I think you have to learn for yourself how to write. I'm slightly mystified by creative writing courses - God love them - because I can't understand how you can explain a process that I find so baffling.

  

  Kate Atkinson
  • God
  • Writing
  • Love

• My understanding of films was just as much as any young girl who watches Bollywood films. I had no idea about the whole process of filmmaking, about dialogue writing, scripts, screenplay etc. I had probably gone to two or three film shoots in my childhood.

  

  Rani Mukerji
  • Writing
  • Girl
  • Understanding

• I don't feel that rap has been respected as an art form. Because people have seen rappers rap off the top of their heads, they don't think it is difficult.

  

  Ice T
  • People
  • Art
  • Think

• I would be pleased if someone would invent a pill to remove my impatience, moodiness, and occasional bursts of anger. But if they did, I wouldn't be able to write my novels or paint.

  

  Orhan Pamuk
  • Anger
  • Paint
  • Someone

• I was bringing the whole music, hip-hop, art, break dancing and urban cultural thing to the downtown table.

  

  Fab Five Freddy
  • Music
  • Art
  • Table

• The demand in India is to have a hit, which becomes a promotion for the movie and makes people come to the theater. You have five songs and different promotions based on those. But when I do Western films, the need for originality is greater. Then I become very conscious about the writing.

  

  A. R. Rahman
  • People
  • Different
  • Writing

• The art world is never going to be popular like the NFL, but more people are buying art and I think that's cushioning, to a great extent, our art-market cycles.

  

  Larry Gagosian
  • People
  • World
  • Great

• People say, 'How does having kids change your writing? Do you see the world through their eyes?' No - you just become a faster songwriter... In the old days, you'd be like, 'Oh I'm gonna work on this song for a few days.'

  

  Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam
  • People
  • World
  • Work

• I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982.

  

  J. A. Jance
  • Time
  • Long
  • Writing

• A performance art piece is unprecedented. It is difficult to censor since it has a good possibility of never being done before.

  

  Jack Bowman
  • Good
  • Done
  • Art

• Writing is a solitary journey, so I am always excited to go out on book tour and meet readers one-on-one.

  

  Dan Brown
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Journey

• It's kind of a catch-22 now because since the 'Da Vinci Code,' I have access to places and people that I didn't have access to before, so that's a lot of fun for somebody like me, but I'm always trying to keep a secret. I don't want people to know what I'm writing about.

  

  Dan Brown
  • People
  • Writing
  • Trying

• As a storyteller, when you're writing a movie and when you're directing, you want to keep people entertained. That's the whole point, right? It has to be entertaining.

  

  Fede Alvarez
  • People
  • Writing
  • Movie

• A lazy man works twice as hard. My mother told that to me, and now I say it to my kids. If you're writing an essay, keep it in the lines and in the margins so you don't have to do it over.

  

  Gary Oldman
  • Writing
  • Kids
  • Mother

• I didn't necessarily have a total idea when I was writing the movie of where everything was going. I just wanted to have really realistic dialogue and write like people I knew talked. I tried to keep it very real.

  

  Zach Braff
  • People
  • Writing
  • Real

• My career? I never think of it as a 'career.' Art and music and all those things that I'm creating are just part of me.

  

  Yoko Ono
  • Music
  • Art
  • Think

• The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.

  

  Walt Whitman
  • Art
  • Light
  • Simplicity

• You have to keep your audience in your mind; if you're writing stuff that you know nobody's going to care about then you should rethink what you're doing!

  

  Paullina Simons
  • Writing
  • Mind

• Keep working and saving and striving for a better future for your children, and for their children, even if you won't be around to see it pay off.

  

  David Robinson The Cars
  • Children
  • Future

• My favorite role is mommy. I know that sounds cheesy to people who don't have kids, or there are even some moms who think it's cheesy. It's a role you can't prepare for; it's a role you don't get paid to do, but it is the most rewarding role, and to me, it's been the most fulfilling.

  

  Vanessa Lachey
  • People
  • Kids
  • Think

• I was a nervous young man. I wanted to do so many things. And I was so enthusiastic and earnestly in love with so many things that I tried too hard. I tried really, really hard. And I made a lot of mistakes. I was afraid of a lot of stuff. And I kind of feel bad for that person I was.

  

  Ryan Adams
  • Men
  • Kind
  • Mistake

• Speaking for myself, art differs from writing in that I never know what I'm going to paint until I paint it, so it's almost like automatic writing. A writer, on the other hand, can't help but know what he's going to write, because the activity demands a degree of premeditation.

  

  William S. Burroughs
  • Writing
  • Art
  • Helping