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Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

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Famous Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”

PeopleIfsBelieveMeanStillsMatterInspirationRunningNightEnergyCarSeriousNeededEmptyRadioMilesConsumersLoudFuelFiftyGasSentimentalReally MeanNeedlesI Still Believe
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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“I felt a strange tightness coming over me, and I reacted instinctively – for the first time in a long, long while – by slipping my notebook into my belt and reaching down to take off my watch. The first thing to go in a street fight is your watch, and once you’ve lost a few, you develop a certain instinct that lets you know when it’s time to get the thing off your wrist and into a safe pocket.”

KnowsFirstsLongCertainFightingLostFeltWatchesStreetsStrangeSafeFirst TimeInstinctReachingPocketsBeltsNotebookWristsSlipping
Book:Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
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“The scene I had just witnessed (a couple making love in the ocean) brought back a lot of memories – not of things I had done but of things I had failed to do, wasted hours and frustrated moments and opportunities forever lost because time had eaten so much of my life and I would never get it back. I envied Yeoman and felt sorry for myself at the same time, because I had seen him in a moment that made all my happiness seem dull.”

MadeDoneMomentsSeemsOpportunityLostFeltHoursMemoriesForeverCoupleSceneOceanSorryDullFrustratedMaking LoveEnviedYeoman
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“Fear is a healthy instinct, not a sign of weakness. It is a natural self-defense mechanism that is common to felines, wolves, hyenas, and most humans. Even fruit bats know fear, and I salute them for it. If you think the world is weird now, imagine how weird it would be if wild beasts had no fear.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWorldHumansSelfWould BeNaturalCommonImagineHealthyWeaknessInstinctFruitDefenseBeastMechanismBatsNo FearSelf DefenseSaluteWild BeastsDefense MechanismsHyenas
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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“I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on Fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed. My father taught me that, along with a few other things that have kept my life interesting.”

ShouldMightTurnsFatherInterestingFrontsTaughtMy FriendsEpic
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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“I don't mean to say that I'm about to state my credo here on this page, but merely to affirm, sincerely for the first time in my life, my belief in man as an individual and independent entity. Certainly not independence in the everyday sense of the word, but pertaining to a freedom and mobility of thought that few people are able - or even have the courage - to achieve.”

PeopleMenFirstsMeanStatesAbleIndividualBeliefAchievePagesFirst TimeIndependentIndependenceEverydayEntitySincerelyMobilityCredo
Book:Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
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“we left about midnight and walked down the hill in silence. the night was muggy, and all around me i felt the same pressure, a sense of time rushing by while it seemed to be standing still. whenever i thought of time in puerto rico, i was reminded of those old magnetic clocks that hung on the walls of my classrooms in high school. every now and then a hand would not move for several minutes -- and if i watched it long enough, wondering if it had finally broken down, the sudden click of the hand jumping three for four notches would startle me when it came.”

IfsLongStillsEnoughHandsSchoolMovingNightThreeLeftFeltSilenceWonderFourMinutesBrokenWallHigh SchoolStandingPressureHillsClockClassroomNow And ThenHungMidnightJumpingClicksRushingMagneticPuerto RicoBroken DownStanding StillNotchesRico
Book:The Rum Diary: A Novel
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“Ignore that nightmare in the bathroom. Just another ugly refugee from the Love Generation, some doom-struck gimp who couldn't handle the pressure. My attorney has never been able to accept the notion - often espoused by reformed drug abusers and especially popular among those on probation - that you can get a lot higher without drugs than with them. And neither have I, for that matter.”

MatterAbleFunnyAcceptingGenerationsHigherDrugPressureNotionUglyHandleNightmareRefugeeBathroomDoomAttorneyAbusersDrug AbuseProbation
Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“I shared a vagrant optimism that some of us were making real progress, that we had taken an honest road, and that the best of us would inevitably make it over the top. At the same time, I felt that the life we were leading was a lost cause, that we were all actor, kidding ourselves on a senseless odyssey. It was the tension between those two poles - a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other - that kept me going.”

TwoRealHandsActorsLostFeltCausesTakenProgressHonestOptimismTensionIdealismHuntersRestlessDoomLoathingOver The TopOdysseyGonzoFear And LoathingLost CauseVagrants
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.”

BodyHappensPleasureAnimalRainChaosLibraryWarmCoffeeCardsInstantGood LifeRoofUnemploymentHeartedToastsEscapismLandlordContraceptivesGood HeartedGonzo JournalismLibrary CardsInstant CoffeeAbsinthe
Book:Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
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“Hallucinations are bad enough. But after awhile you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth. Most acid fanciers can handle this sort of thing. But nobody can handle that other trip-the possibility that any freak with $1.98 can walk into the Circus-Circus and suddenly appear in the sky over downtown Las Vegas twelve times the size of God, howling anything that comes into his head. No, this is not a good town for psychedelic drugs.”

EnoughWalksSeeingSkyPossibilityDrugTownsSizeLegsHandleTeethGrandmotherKnivesFreakTwelveCircusAcidVegasLas VegasPsychedelicDowntownCrawlingHallucinationsFear And LoathingPsychedelic Drugs
Book:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
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“We came out here to find the American Dream, and now that we're right in the vortex you want to quit ... You must realize that we've found the main nerve." I know," he said. "That's what gives me the Fear.”

KnowsWantGivingSaidDreamFoundRealizingGive MeQuittingNervesAmerican DreamVortex
Book:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
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“Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run, but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.”

WorldLongRunningMemoriesKnowingAliveCornersExplanationLong RunsVegasLas VegasLoathingGonzoFear And Loathing
Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

LifeShouldWellsBodyDeathUsedJourneyChildhoodAdventureInspirational LifeTravelSafetySuicideIntentionCloudsGravesSmokeLife ChangingWowRidingWornTraveledPreservationHuntersMotorcycleLoathingArrivingSelf PreservationTravel AdventureWorn OutAdventure And TravelLife Is An AdventureBikersWhat Is LifeProclaimingGonzoLife AdventureAdventure And LifeWant To TravelLife Well LivedLife And TimeFear And LoathingFinaleYou Only Live OnceHarleyOne Life To LiveLiving Life WellAdventurous LifeGonzo JournalismPrettinessGreat JourneysMotorcycle Riding
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”

TwoWholeHalfCasesFiveSeriousNeededDrugTendenciesGrassCollectionsBagsDozenSaltLockedSheetsSeventiesGalaxyAcidVegasLas VegasCocaineLoathingPintsGonzoHalf FullFear And LoathingRumTequilaShakersDownersBudweiser
Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish - a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly with a heart full of hate who has found a way to live out where the real winds blow - to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested... Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll.”

WayMindHeartRealHateFallFoundFunHeavenImaginationSleepStreetsWindProductsDrinkPureLateEmptyFalling In LoveBlowHaving FunLazyGood TimesHuntersArrestedWay To LiveWhiskyGonzoDementedHillbillySleep LateEmpty StreetsDriving FastLet The Good Times Roll
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“I haven't found a drug yet that can get you anywhere near as high as a sitting at a desk writing, trying to imagine a story no matter how bizarre it is, [or] going out and getting into the weirdness of reality and doing a little time on the Proud Highway.”

WritingTryingLittlesMatterStoriesRealityFoundImagineHavensProudDrugSittingGoing OutDesksBizarreHighwaysLittle TimeWeirdness
Book:Conversations with Hunter S. Thompson
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“But our trip was different. It was a classic affirmation of everything right and true and decent in the national character. It was a gross, physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of life in this country-but only for those with true grit. And we were chock full of that.”

DifferentCountryCharacterPossibilityInsaneFantasticClassicDecentAffirmationGrossGritLoathingSaluteFear And LoathingTrue Grit
Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer.”

WarNationsPovertyEconomyMilitarySlaveTerrorismDebtTerroristCampsLockedVagueHuntersLocked UpGonzoDetention
Book:Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness
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