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Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

Journalist

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Famous Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

“I’ve spent enough time in jackrabbit country to know that most of them lead pretty dull lives . . . No wonder some of them drift over the line into cheap thrills once in a while; there has to be a powerful adrenaline rush in crouching by the side of a road, waiting for the next set of headlights to come along, then streaking out of the bushes with split-second timing and making it across to the other side just inches in front of the speeding front wheels.”

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Book:Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72
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“There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. It makes you behave like the village drunkard in some early Irish novel. Total loss of all basic motor skills, blurred vision, no balance, numb tongue - the mind recoils in horror, unable to communicate with the spinal column. Which is interesting, because you can actually watch yourself behaving in this terrible way, but you can’t control it.”

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Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.”

HateViolenceDrinkDrugShotsI HateDrinkingAlcoholDrunkBeerInsanityWeedSanityEpicHuntersDrankLoathingDrugs And AlcoholAdvocatingDrinking AlcoholFunny DrinkingBeer DrinkingGreat DrinkingFunny AlcoholAlcohol DrinkingColumnistsDrinking FunnyGreat AlcoholGonzoFunny BeerBlack HumorAlcohol AddictionInsanity And SanityAlcohol And LifeFunny SarcasticFunny Beer DrinkingFear And LoathingSmoking And DrinkingFunny DrugGonzo JournalismShots DrinkingDrinks And LoveSex DrugsShort BeerCigarettes And Alcohol
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.”

WorldNeedsTryingTwoAmericaUsedLiteratureNationsMillionsCarHundredGunKillingUncomfortableAnarchyCynicalHeresyInsultingSalesmanLoathingGonzoFear And LoathingQualmsUsed CarQualms AboutCar SalesmanUsed Car Salesman
Book:Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
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“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

IfsLifeMindWellsLittlesConsciousDevilTunesFreakTicketsEpicExpansionBeatenLas VegasLoathingChalkFear And LoathingNo SympathyHells Angels
Book:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
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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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“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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“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.”

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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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“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.”

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Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of 'the rat race' is not yet final.”

MenLoveNeedsHardRealityAmericaDiesRacePossibilityHeroIllusionInfiniteFinalsMythProofTyrannyChampionExtrasDimensionsLegendsRatsHuntersEraseLoathingInfinite PossibilitiesMouldGonzoRat RaceFear And LoathingLiving ProofLegends And Myths
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“How long can we maintain? I wonder. How long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family. Will he make that grim connection.”

ThinkingLongHomeLastsKnownWonderBoysDrugLonelyConnectionsDesertVegasLas VegasGrimLoathingGonzoMansonFear And LoathingGonzo Journalism
Book:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
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“The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. Probably at the next gas station.”

MenWorldNextStuffDepthWorriedGasStationsHelplessRottenVegasLas VegasIrresponsibleLoathingDepravedBingeGonzoGas StationsFear And Loathing
Book:The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
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“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas.”

FeelsShouldRememberBitsHoursSkyCarHugeTerribleDrugHundredEdgesMilesDesertBatsVegasLas VegasLoathingDivingGonzoTop DownFear And Loathing
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“But after a while 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.”

SeeingLegsHandleTeethGrandmotherKnivesAcidVegasLas VegasLoathingCrawlingHallucinationsFear And Loathing
Book:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
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“History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody understands at the time--and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.”

ThinkingKnowsLongHardReasonWholeSeemsEnergyGenerationsHappenedFineReasonableNow And ThenFlashBullshitVegasLas VegasLoathingRetrospectGonzoFear And Loathing
Book:Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream
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