Gonzo Quotes

• If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Inspirational, Crazy, Epic

  Hunter S. Thompson (2012). “Ancient Gonzo Wisdom”, p.372, Pan Macmillan

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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!

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Life, Death, Suicide

  FaceBook post by Hunter S. Thompson from Nov 01, 2015

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• Buy the ticket, take the ride.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Fun, Vegas, Fear And Loathing

  Hunter S. Thompson (2012). “Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream”, p.238, Pan Macmillan

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• Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Truth, Cells, Hunters

  1973 'Fear and Loathing at the Superbowl', in Rolling Stone, 15 Feb.

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• Myths and legends die hard in America.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  America, Fear And Loathing, Hunters

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time”, p.406, Simon and Schuster

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• Gonzo journalism is a style of reporting based on William Faulkner's idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Ideas, Style, Fiction

  The Great Shark Hunt "Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1979)

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• If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Past, Cells, Years

  1973 'Fear and Loathing at the Superbowl', in Rolling Stone, 15 Feb.

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• Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Vegas, People, Psychology

  Hunter S. Thompson (2010). “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream”, p.90, Vintage

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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.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Beautiful, Military, Mean

  "Fictional character: Raoul Duke". "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", 1998.

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• I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Funny, Truth, Work

  Hunter S. Thompson, Beef Torrey, Kevin Simonson (2008). “Conversations with Hunter S. Thompson”, p.13, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Las Vegas, Stupidity, Fear And Loathing

  Hunter S. Thompson (2010). “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream”, p.73, Vintage

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• In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Stupid, Philosophical, Las Vegas

  Hunter S. Thompson (2010). “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream”, p.73, Vintage

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• For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Beauty, Soul, Triumph

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• Call on God, but row away from the rocks.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Inspirational, Faith, Humor

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• 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.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Hero, Race, Champion

  1969 'Those Daring Young Men In Their Flying Machines Ain't What They Used To Be!', in Pageant, Sep.

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• We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Vegas, Drug, Fear And Loathing

  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas pt. 1 (1971)

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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.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Lonely, Home, Boys

  Hunter S. Thompson (2010). “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream”, p.9, Vintage

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• Most people who deal in words don't have much faith in them and I am no exception.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  People, Hunters, Deals

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “The Rum Diary: Film Tie-in Edition”, p.57, A&C Black

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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.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Love, Hero, Reality

  1969 'Those Daring Young Men In Their Flying Machines Ain't What They Used To Be!', in Pageant, Sep.

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• It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat sh** and die.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Epic, People, Fear And Loathing

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “Generation of Swine: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist”, p.11, Simon and Schuster

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• The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.

  William Faulkner

  Fiction, Journalism, Newspapers

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• Happy," I muttered, trying to pin the word down. But it is one of those words, like Love, that I have never quite understood. Most people who deal in words don’t have much faith in them and I am no exception – especially the big ones like Happy and Love and Honest and Strong. They are too elusive and far to relative when you compare them to sharp, mean little words like Punk and Cheap and Phony. I feel at home with these, because they’re scrawny and easy to pin, but the big ones are tough and it takes either a priest or a fool to use them with any confidence.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Strong, Mean, Home

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “The Rum Diary: Film Tie-in Edition”, p.57, A&C Black

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• Sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind but falling in love and not getting arrested.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Falling In Love, Fun, Sleep

  FaceBook post by Hunter S. Thompson from Sep 17, 2014

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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.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Men, Vegas, Fear And Loathing

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time”, p.531, Simon and Schuster

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• There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death?

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Sex, Rain, Hunters

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “Generation of Swine: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist”, p.10, Simon and Schuster

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