Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People interfere in others' affairs because they lack their own purpose, likening them to a virus.
- In plain terms
- Busybodies cause trouble because they have nothing better to do.
- What can you take from it?
- Interfering in others' business often stems from personal emptiness.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When does concern become interference?
- How do you find your own business to mind?
Another view
It dismisses legitimate community involvement as useless.
More from William S. Burroughs
Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpol…
Permalink to quote #35 No job too dirty for the fucking scientists.
Permalink to quote #37 Madness is confusion of levels of fact... Madness is not seeing visions but confusing levels.
Permalink to quote #34
Related quotes
He had the kind of handshake that ought never to be used except as a tourniquet.
Denis NordenDenis Norden quote #1 She behaves with all the sensitivity of a sex-starved boa constrictor
Lord StratfordLord Stratford quote #1 You can deny all you want that there is etiquette, and a lot of people do in everyday life. But if you behave in a way that offends the people you're trying to…
Judith MartinJudith Martin quote #2