Elephants and authors have long, vicious memories.

The line appears in a private letter Burroughs wrote to Allen Ginsberg on April 26, 1952, in which Burroughs is describing feeling discouraged and uncomfortable due to being crowded and lacking relaxation or conversation.

Burroughs is comparing writers to elephants to suggest that both tend to remember slights and past experiences for a long time, and that this memory can be harsh or retaliatory rather than gentle.

I shouldn’t be crowded like this. Elephants and authors have long, vicious memories.

Writers, like elephants, have long, vicious memories.