Changes... can only be effected by alterations in the original. The only thing not prerecorded in a prerecorded universe are the prerecordings themselves. The copies can only repeat themselves word for word. A virus is a copy. You can pretty it up, cut it up, scramble it - it will reassemble in the same form.
Interpretation
Change is only possible through original alterations, as copies cannot create new forms.
This quote by William S. Burroughs suggests that true change can only arise from fundamental alterations in the original entity. It emphasizes that copies or reproductions, like a virus, can only replicate existing forms without the ability to innovate or evolve, reminding us that genuine transformation requires originality and authenticity.
In practice
In a speech about innovation, one might say, 'As Burroughs noted, true change arises from the original, not mere repetitions.'
God save the Queen and a fascist regime … a flabby toothless fascism, to be sure. Never go too far in any direction, is the basic law on which Limey-Land is built. The Queen stabilizes the whole sinking shithouse and keeps a small elite of wealth and privilege on top. The English have gone soft in the outhouse. England is like some stricken beast too stupid to know it is dead. Ingloriously foundering in its own waste products, the backlash and bad karma of empire
Like most qualities, cuteness is delineated by what it isn't. Most people aren't cute at all, or if so they quickly outgrow their cuteness ... Elegance, grace, delicacy, beauty, and a lack of self-consciousness: a creature who knows he is cute soon isn't.
There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.
Gentle reader, the Fountain of Youth is radioactive, and those who imbibe its poisonous heavy waters will suffer the hideous fate of decaying metal. Yet almost without exception, the wretched idiot inhabitants of our benighted planet would gulp down this radioactive excrement if it were offered.
Language is a virus from outer space.
One very important aspect of art is that it makes people aware of what they know and don’t know they know... Once the breakthrough is made, there is a permanent expansion of awareness. But there is always a reaction of rage, of outrage, at the first breakthrough... So the artist, then, expands awareness. And once the breakthrough is made, this becomes part of the general awareness.
Security can only be achieved through constant change, through discarding old ideas that have outlived their usefulness and adapting others to current facts.
The world is always in movement.
When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day.
Time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life.
There's no problem on the planet that can't be solved without violence. That's the lesson of the civil rights movement.
Disappointment is temporary. Only your thought about it is permanent. Change your mind about what has disappointed you and you will change your life
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