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Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

Journalist

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Famous Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

“John F. Kennedy, who seized the White House from Richard Nixon in a frenzied campaign that turned a whole generation of young Americans into political junkies, got shot in the head for his efforts, murdered in Dallas by some hapless geek named Oswald who worked for either Castro, the mob, Jimmy Hoffa, the CIA, his dominatrix landlady or the odious, degenerate FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover. The list is long and crazy - maybe Marilyn Monroe's first husband fired those shots from the grassy knoll. Who knows?”

KnowsFirstsLongWholeYoungPoliticalHouseWhiteEffortGenerationsCrazyHusbandShotsListsCampaignsChiefsWhite HouseGeekCiaFbiJimmyDegeneratesJunkieDallasCastroHooverJ Edgar HooverJimmy Hoffa
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“I believe that the major operating ethic in American society right now, the most universal want and need is to be on TV. I've been on TV. I could be on TV all the time if I wanted to. But most people will never get on TV. It has to be a real breakthrough for them. And trouble is, people will do almost anything to get on it. You know, confess to crimes they haven't committed. You don't exist unless you're on TV. Yeah, it's a validation process.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWantNeedsBelieveRealWantedI BelieveProcessTroubleCrimeHavensTvsRight NowMajorsEthicsUniversalYeahCommittedBreakthroughValidationAmerican SocietyWants And Needs
Book:Ancient Gonzo Wisdom
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“[Polo Is My Life] is what's called a sex book - you know, sex, drugs and rock and roll. It's about the manager of a sex theater who's forced to leave and flee to the mountains. He falls in love and gets in even more trouble than he was in the sex theater in San Francisco. Most of my stories are tales of anguish, stress and grief.”

KnowsBookStoriesLife IsFallSexGriefTroubleRocksDrugMountainStressTheaterFalling In LoveTalesManagersRock And RollAnguishSan FranciscoPoloSex DrugsSex Drugs And Rock And Roll
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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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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“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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“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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“There is a huge body of evidence to support the notion that me and the police were put on this earth to do extremely different things and never to mingle professionally with each other, except at official functions, when we all wear ties and drink heavily and whoop it up like the natural, good-humored wild boys that we know in our hearts that we are..These occasions are rare, but they happen - despite the forked tongue of fate that has put us forever on different paths.”

KnowsHeartDifferentBodyHappensEarthNaturalBoysSupportForeverPathFateHugeDrinkEvidenceFunctionPoliceNotionTongueDespiteOccasionsTiesOfficialsDifferent ThingsGonzoDifferent Paths
Book:Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F
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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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“The Edge...There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others-the living-are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later. But the edge is still Out there.”

PeopleKnowsWayStillsFeltGoneHonestEdgesHandleHuntersGonzoOver The EdgeHells AngelsNow And Later
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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“It is all well and good for children and acid freaks to believe in Santa Claus - but it is still a profoundly morbid day for us working professionals. It is unsettling to know that one out of every twenty people you meet on Xmas will be dead this time next year.... Some people can accept this, and some can't. That is why God made whiskey, and also why Wild Turkey comes in $300 shaped canisters during most of the Christmas season...”

PeopleKnowsYearsBelieveWellsChildrenMadeStillsNextAcceptingSeasonsTwentiesFreakTurkeysSantaNext YearAcidWhiskeySanta ClausMorbidXmasGonzoChristmas SeasonBelieve In Santa
Author:Hunter S. Thompson
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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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“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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