Intelligence and war are games, perhaps the only meaningful games left…

William S. Burroughs
212 citations
Intelligence and war are games, perhaps the only meaningful games left. If any player becomes too proficient, the game is threatened with termination. ✨ William S. Burroughs (1993). The Adding Machine: Selected Essays, p.124, Arcade Publishing
Philosophy
11

More Author Quotes

Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing. ✨ William S. Burroughs (1989). The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs, Penguin Group USA
Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective. ✨ William S. Burroughs (1988). The Western Lands, Penguin Group USA
A junky runs on junk time. When the junk is cut off, the clock runs down and stops. All he can do is hang on and wait for non-junky time to start. A sick junky has no escape from external time, no pl … ▶
America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil before the settlers, before the Indians. The evil is there waiting. ✨ William S. Burroughs (2007). Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reade … ▶
This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games. All games are basically … ▶

Intelligence and war are games, perhaps the only meaningful games left. If any player becomes too proficient, the game is threatened with termination. ✨ William S. Burroughs (1993). The Adding Machine: Selected Essays, p.124, Arcade Publishing

More Author Quotes

Most Cited Authors

The Best Quotes

Most Liked Authors

Curated Author Quotes