William S. Burroughs Quotes

There are no innocent bystanders ... what are they doing there in the first place?

It's perfectly obvious that somebody's responsible and somebody's innocent. Otherwise it [justice] makes no sense at all.

The fault is as great as hee that is faulty.

How innocent we are of our mistakes and how we responsible we are for them.

There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility.

A first impulse was never a crime.

'Good Times' is a story about the loss of innocence, how adults are responsible for their actions but children aren't.

There's a lot of bad things going on but I didn't do nothing.

My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

There's no difference between one's killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It's exactly the same thing, or even worse.

It's hard to determine where lies culpability.

Did I kill anyone?

He who flees proves himself guilty.

Those who are innocent today may be guilty tomorrow.

Anybody that has had a brush with what feels like undiluted evil often ends up asking themselves the same questions - whether it's something that was a consequence of their own actions or actions that were taken against them or actions that they were caught up in.

If you had special powers, it wouldn't be all fun and games. There would be regrets for things you've done.

Intent is guilt. Failure to successfully carry out the intent does not absolve the guilt.

Had laws not been, we never had been blam'd; For not to know we sinn'd is innocence.

I believe in guilt. There's not enough guilt around these days for my taste.

If I could, Sister James, I would certainly choose to live in innocence. But innocence can only be wisdom in a world without evil. Situations arise and we are confronted with wrongdoing and the need to act.

You cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of the guilty. Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.

When the deeds that you do don't add up to zero.

The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.

If the victims are my problem, the killers are yours.