Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

[Amelia G]

Post some of your favorite Hunter S. Thompson quotes. I'll start:

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

[mollycase]

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

[One Eyed Cat]

There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda... You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.... 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...

But then:

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." - Written in the year 2000.

OEC

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. - Hunter S. Thompson.

[TheDeathKnight]

About five miles back I had a brush with the CHP.
Not stopped or pulled over: nothing routine. I always drive properly.
A bit fast, perhaps, but always with consummate skill and a natural
feel for the road that even cops recognize.
No cop was ever born who isn’t a sucker for a
finely-executed high speed controlled drift all the way around
one of those cloverleaf freeway interchanges.

Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop.
Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side
when they see the big red light behind them...
and then they will start apologizing, begging for mercy.

This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop-heart.
The thing to do, when you’re running along about a hundred or so,
and you suddenly find a red flashing CHP-tracker on your trail,
what you want to do then is accelerate.
Never pull over at the first siren howl.
Mash it down and make the bastard chase you at speeds
up to 120 all the way to the next exit.
He will follow.
But he won’t know what to make of your blinker-signal that you’re about to turn right.

This is to let him know you’re looking for a proper place to pull over and talk...
Keep signaling and hope for an off-ramp.
One of those uphill side loops with a sign saying, “Max speed 25”.
And the trick, at this point, is to suddenly leave the freeway and
take him into the chute at no less than a hundred miles per hour.

He will lock his brakes at about the same time as you lock yours,
but it will take him a moment to realize he’s about to take a 180-degree turn at this speed...
But you will be ready for it, braced for the G’s and fast heel-toe work,
and with any luck at all you will have come to a complete stop off the
road at the top of the turn and be standing beside your automobile by
the time he catches up.

He will not be reasonable at first... but no matter. Let him calm down.
He will want the first word. Let him have it. His brain will be in turmoil;
he may begin jabbering, or even pull his gun.
Let him unwind; keep smiling.
The idea is to show him that you were always in total control of yourself and your vehicle...
While he lost control of everything.

It helps to have a police/press badge in your wallet when he calms
down enough to ask for your license.

I had one of these, but I also had a can of Budweiser in my hand.

Until that moment, I was unaware that I was holding it.
I had felt totally on top of the situation...
But when I looked down and saw the little red evidence-bomb in my hand,
I knew I was fucked...

[Tequila Zaire]

“OK, so computers are our friends then?”

Technically this thread could go on forever with the amount of writing he did...and it'd never be a dull moment.

[Tequila Zaire]

"I would feel real trapped in this life if I didn't know I could commit suicide at any time."

[killerkat]

“OK, so computers are our friends then?”

Technically this thread could go on forever with the amount of writing he did...and it'd never be a dull moment.

yea really, that's why i'm not even goin to add, there's just too much to write, i've never read somthing from him i didn't enjoy......

[CarnalxKiss]

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.
Hunter S. Thompson

and

In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upward mobile.


yes , he was a great one..

[Tequila Zaire]

Yeah like many I started to read his stuff late in H.S. years and all through college. Have not sat down with his work in recent years (mainly out of spite...long story that one) but he's by far the most influential writer of the last half century...so many try to copy him. Hell EVERY FUCKING BLOG out there has a lil of him in it...even those written by anime loving asian girls who have hello kitty animated gifs all over the place.

It's gonna suck not having him around...I was hoping he'd cover the next election...

[Tequila Zaire]

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

[Nudemuse]

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

That one has been my work email signature for almost two years now.

[Tequila Zaire]

"Being a famous actor...it's like being a famous whore or something..."

[sheramil]

1: "And the moral of the story is never lean on the weird. Or they will chop your head off. And perverts will eat your brains."
- "Better than Sex"

2: Children are like TV sets. When they start acting wierd, whack them across the eyes with a big rubber basketball shoe. How's that for wisdom?
- Advice to Ralph Steadman, "The Great Shark Hunt"

3: "Who are these Swine ? These flag-sucking half-wits
who get fleeced and fooled
by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?
..... They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious
in the American character....
I piss down the throats of these Nazis.
And I am too old to worry about
whether they like it or not. Fuck Them."
- "Kingdom of Fear"