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Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

Journalist

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Famous Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

“The massive, frustrated energies of a mainly young, disillusioned electorate that has long since abandoned the idea that we all have a duty to vote. This is like being told you have a duty to buy a new car, but you have to choose immediately between a Ford and a Chevy.”

LongIdeasYoungEnergyCarDutyVoteMassiveAbandonedFrustratedDisillusionedElectorateNew CarChevy
Book:Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
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“Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective Journalism -- which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place.”

PeopleFirstsHouseWhiteMissingBuiltBlindObjectivesSpotsJournalismWhite HouseDogmaRottenScumBlind SpotsGonzo Journalism
Book:Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson
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“Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.”

SeemsTogetherMotherHateAbilityEnemySonUniqueHatredI HateHatedMy SonHonorableMy Best FriendFraternity
Book:Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson
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“Every deadline was a crisis … No doubt it has something to do with a deep-seated personality defect, or maybe a kink in whatever blood vessel leads into the pineal gland … On the other hand, it might easily be something as simple and basically perverse as whatever instinct it is that causes a jackrabbit to wait until the last possible second to dart across the road in front of a speeding car.”

HandsMightLastsCausesWaitingSimpleDoubtBloodCarFrontsPersonalityCrisisInstinctNo DoubtDefectsVesselDeadlineSpeedingGlandsKinkBlood VesselsPineal GlandSpeeding Cars
Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy.”

WarChristianSidesReligiousLinesEnemyFrontsHatredScalesWarfareBoth SidesFanaticsJihadReligious WarsReligious Hatred
Book:Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness
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“Who knows? If there is in fact, a heaven and a hell, all we know for sure is that hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix & a clean well lighted place full of sunshine and bromides and fast cars where almost everybody seems vaguely happy, except those who know in their hearts what is missing... And being driven slowly and quietly into the kind of terminal craziness that comes with finally understanding that the one thing you want is not there. Missing. Back-ordered. No tengo. Vaya con dios. Grow up! Small is better. Take what you can get.”

IfsKnowsWantWellsHeartKindFactsSeemsHeavenGrowsUnderstandingHellGrowing UpOne ThingCarMissingCleanDrivenVersionsSunshinePhoenixCrazinessTerminalGonzoDioFast Car
Book:Generation of Swine: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist
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“The streets of every city in America are filled with men who would pay all the money they could lay their hands on to be transformed, even for a day, into hairy, hard-fisted brutes who walk all over cops, extort drinks from terrified bartenders and roar out of town on big motorcycles after raping the banker's daughter.”

MenHardHandsBigsAmericaWalksPayCitiesStreetsDrinkDaughterTownsFilledLaysTransformedCopTerrifiedBankersBrutesMotorcycleBartender
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now & with somebody & and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.”

WarCountryStatesUnitedMistakeEnemyUnited StatesGoneOur LivesMysteriousOur TimeOther CountriesBloodyTowersGonzoRubbleGonzo Journalism
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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“I drink much less than most people think, and I think much more than most people would believe. I am quite sincere about some of the things which people take very lightly, and almost insultingly unconcerned about some of the things which people take most seriously. In short, I am basically antisocial: certainly not to an alarming degree , but just more so than I appear to be.”

PeopleThinkingBelieveDrinkDegreesSincereAntisocialUnconcerned
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“We are living in dangerously weird times now. Smart people just shrug and admit they're dazed and confused. The only ones left with any confidence at all are the New Dumb. It is the beginning of the end of our world as we knew it. Doom is the operative ethic.”

PeopleWorldEndsLeftSmartEthicsDumbConfusedOur WorldDoomSmart PeopleDazed
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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“The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy - then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece. Probably the rarest form of life in American politics is the man who can turn on a crowd & still keep his head straight - assuming it was straight in the first place.”

MenFirstsStillsProblemFormTurnsPoorDemocracyStageHe ManOfficeSellsAssumingCrowdsSupporterAmerican PoliticsTurn-onTubesFrenzyNickelsSwinePleasersBrainlessCrowd Pleasers
Book:Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
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“And that, I think, was the handle--that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting--on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark--the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”

ThinkingNeedsYearsLooksKindMeanEyeBeautifulFightingEvilEnergyForceSidesWaterFiveMilitaryVictoryMarkWestWaveHandleHillsBrokeInevitableFive YearsRidingNo PointMomentumVegasLas VegasLoathingSteepGonzoFear And LoathingFighting On
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“Houston is a cruel, crazy town on a filthy river in East Texas with no zoning laws and a culture of sex, money and violence. It's a shabby, sprawling metropolis ruled by brazen women, crooked cops and super-rich pansexual cowboys who live by the code of the West -- which can mean just about anything you need it to mean, in a pinch.”

NeedsMeanLawCultureSexRichViolenceCrazyRiversTownsWestEastCodeLive ByTexasCopCowboyCrookedFilthyHoustonBrazenShabbyMetropolisEast Texas
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“I have stolen more quotes and thoughts and purely elegant little starbursts of writing from the Book of Revelation than anything else in the English language - and it is not because I am a biblical scholar, or because of any religious faith, but because I love the wild power of the language and the purity of the madness that governs it and makes it music.”

LoveWritingLittlesBookLanguageReligiousMadnessPurityRevelationsScholarBiblicalElegantStolenEnglish LanguageReligious FaithBook Of Revelation
Book:Generation of Swine: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist
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“Coming of age in a fascist police state will not be a barrel of fun for anybody, much less for people like me, who are not inclined to suffer Nazis gladly and feel only contempt for the cowardly flag-suckers who would gladly give up their outdated freedom to live for the mess of pottage they have been conned into believing will be freedom from fear.”

PeopleGivingFeelsBelieveHas BeensStatesAgeSufferingFunGiving UpPoliceLike MeMessComing Of AgeContemptFlagsNaziFascistsCowardlyBarrelsSuckerPolice StateOutdated
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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“When you write for a living and you can't do anything else, you know that sooner or later that the deadline is going to come screaming down on you like a goddamn banshee. There's no avoiding it...So one day you just don't appear at the El Adobe bar anymore; you shut the door, paint the windows black, rent an electric typewriter and become the monster you always were - the writer.”

KnowsWritingBlackDoorsOne DayWindowPaintMonstersBarsElectricSooner Or LaterAvoidingDeadlineTypewritersBanshees
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.”

MenDifferentMotivationalProcessPerspectiveGoes OnEvery ManSignificantReactionsLearning ProcessSignificant Experiences
Book:Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
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“In the terms of our Great Society the Hell's Angels and their ilk are losers - dropouts, failures and malcontents. They are rejects looking for a way to get even with a world in which they are only a problem.The Hell's Angels are not visionaries, but diehards, and if they are the forerunners or the vanguard of anything it is not the "moral revolution" in vogue on college campuses, but a fast-growing legion of young unemployables whose untapped energy will inevitably find the same kind of destructive outlet that "outlaws" like the Hell's Angels have been finding for years.”

IfsWorldWayYearsKindHas BeensProblemYoungEnergyTermMoralHellGrowingCollegeRevolutionFindingsAngelDestructiveRejectsLoserOutletsVisionariesCampusOutlawVogueLegionVanguardGreat SocietyForerunnersDropoutsCollege CampusMalcontentDiehard
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“My first feeling was a wild desire to drive a stake in the sand and claim the place for myself. The beach was white as salt, and cut off from the world by a ring of steep hills that faced the sea. We were on the edge of a large bay and the water was that clear, turquoise color that you get with a white sand bottom. I had never seen such a place. I wanted to take off all my clothes and never wear them again.”

WorldFirstsFeelingsWantedDesireWaterWhiteClearCuttingSeaColorClothesClaimsBottomEdgesRingsHillsBeachSandStakesSaltSteepTurquoiseWhite Sand
Book:The Rum Diary: Film Tie-in Edition
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