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.
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
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the state of England and its monarchy, portraying it as a symbol of decadence and moral decline.
William S. Burroughs uses vivid imagery to describe a decaying England, suggesting that the monarchy, represented by the Queen, serves to uphold a failing system of privilege and decay. He implies that the society and its citizens have become complacent and ignorant of their own decline, likening the country to a beast in decline, unable to recognize its own demise. This reflects a deeper critique of the socio-political structure and the consequences of historical imperialism.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of imperialism on modern societies.
More from William S. Burroughs
All quotes →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.
when I become death. Death is the seed from which I grow.
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What if someone gave a war & Nobody came? / Life would ring the bells of Ecstasy and Forever be Itself again.
There are those who would draw a sharp line between power politics and a principled foreign policy based on values. This polarized view - you are either a realist or devoted to norms and values - may be just fine in academic debate, but it is a disaster for American foreign policy. American values are universal.