Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

Powerful Hunter S. Thompson for Daily Growth

About Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 - February 20, 2005), an American journalist and writer, is renowned for his unconventional writing style, sharp wit, and poignant social criticism. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he developed a keen interest in journalism at the University of Tennessee, where he served as editor of the school newspaper. Thompson's career took off after moving to California in the 1960s, covering the burgeoning counterculture movement for various publications. His reporting on the Hells Angels motorcycle club was compiled into his first major work, "Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs" (1966). However, Thompson gained international fame with his coverage of the 1970 Kentucky Derby, where he coined the term "Gonzo Journalism," a style characterized by immersion in the subject and blurring the line between fact and fiction. This approach was further showcased in his seminal work, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1972), a wild, drug-fueled account of his experiences covering the 1970 Democratic Convention and an exploration of the American psyche during the Nixon era. Thompson's later works, such as "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" (1973) and "The Curse of Lono" (1984), continued to blend journalism, fiction, and political commentary. Thompson's influence extends beyond literature, shaping modern journalism with his unique style and perspective. Despite struggling with depression and substance abuse throughout his life, Thompson remained a powerful voice until his death in 2005. His quotes, such as "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro," continue to resonate widely.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Buy the ticket, take the ride."

The quote by Hunter S. Thompson, "Buy the ticket, take the ride," encourages embracing life's experiences wholeheartedly. It symbolizes taking chances, seizing opportunities, and not being afraid to embark on journeys, both literal and metaphorical. Essentially, it calls for living an adventurous and unconstrained life, not letting fear or hesitation stop one from experiencing the world fully.

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive 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 encourages living life boldly, fully, and passionately. He suggests that the goal should not be to preserve oneself until old age, but rather to live each moment to its fullest, taking risks, experiencing new things, and embracing life with gusto. The end of life should be a celebration of all the exciting adventures experienced along the way, rather than a mere survival until the end.

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

This quote by Hunter S. Thompson is a reflection of his unorthodox and rebellious personality. He suggests that methods such as drug use, alcohol consumption, violence, and madness have been effective coping mechanisms for him personally. However, it's important to note that the quote does not advocate these behaviors as solutions for others; instead, it implies a personal struggle and the use of unconventional means to navigate life. The quote highlights Thompson's non-conformist approach to living and his willingness to challenge societal norms.

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

Hunter S. Thompson's quote "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" suggests that when a situation becomes strange or challenging, those who are naturally unconventional or eccentric rise to the occasion, applying their unique perspectives and skills professionally to navigate and overcome the difficulties. In other words, when faced with chaos or complexity, the oddballs become experts, embracing their quirks as assets rather than liabilities.

"There is no blame nor responsibility where one does not act from love."

This quote suggests that when actions are not driven by love, they carry neither blame nor responsibility. It implies that love serves as a guiding force for ethical behavior and responsible actions, while the absence of love may lead to actions that are indifferent to their impact on others, thus escaping accountability. The statement underscores the importance of compassion and empathy in shaping personal conduct and decision-making.

I just usually go with my own taste. If I like something, and it happens to be against the law, well, then I might have a problem.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Law, Against, Like, My Own

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

Society, Caught, Everybody, Final

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

Truth, Very, About, Commodity

Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.

- Hunter S. Thompson

News, Good News, Glittering, Worshipped

Marathon running, like golf, is a game for players, not winners. That is why Callaway sells golf clubs and Nike sells running shoes. But running is unique in that the world's best racers are on the same course, at the same time, as amateurs, who have as much chance of winning as your average weekend warrior would scoring a touchdown in the NFL.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Game, Warrior, Average, Marathon

One thing I have learned in my painful career as a gambler is that bragging when you get lucky and win a few games will plunge you into gloom and unacceptable beatings very soon. It happens every time.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Career, Lucky, Very, Unacceptable

I have warned many times about the guaranteed dangers of betting with your heart instead of your head - big darkness, soon come - but every once in a while you get a fair chance to have it both ways, and the annual NCAA basketball Tournament is one of them.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Big, About, Your, Dangers

I am a generous man, by nature, and far more trusting than I should be. Indeed. The real world is risky territory for people with generosity of spirit. Beware.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Nature, More, Beware, Generosity

I think I'm one of the most patriotic people that I've ever encountered in America. I consider myself a bedrock patriot. I participate very actively in local politics, because my voice might be worthwhile. I participate in a meaningful way - not by donations; I work at it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Patriotism, Voice, Patriotic, Patriot

If Sunday is the Lord's day, then Saturday belongs to the Devil. It is the only night of the week when he gives out Free passes to the Late show at the Too Much Fun Club.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Week, Saturday, Lord, Club

The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Die, Through, Some, Perceived

All gamblers lose regularly, but they rarely discuss it in public. Losing is bad for the image, dude. Nobody buys Hot Tips from Losers. Remember that.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Image, Buys, Gamblers, Tips

The next MVP of the Super Bowl is just as likely to have been a full-time grocery store bagger last year as a Heisman Trophy winner.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Next, Full-Time, Likely, Grocery Store

As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Shame, Concerned, Overrun, Mediocrity

Duke is an ugly word in Kentucky. Nothing in the world compares to the joy of beating those hateful swine from Duke.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Ugly, Nothing, Beating, Duke

The Raiders of old were vicious and crazy and cruel. Hanging around their locker room was like hanging around the weight room at Folsom Prison.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Cruel, Old, Like, Vicious

There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge.

- Hunter S. Thompson

More, Ether, Binge, Irresponsible

I am an Addictive Personality, they say, a natural slave to passion - and many Doctors have warned me against it. I am a High-risk Patient.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Natural, Say, Against, Doctors

By disgracing and degrading the presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.

- Hunter S. Thompson

United States, Richard, Diseased

Richard Nixon was a criminally insane Monster - Bill Clinton is a black-hearted Swine of a friend.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Bill Clinton, Richard, Nixon, Swine

Rush Limbaugh is a lame professional swine, and he makes a good living at it. He is like a hired geek in some traveling backwoods carnival - the freaks who bite the heads off chickens - but Limbaugh is a modernized geek who thinks he can bite the heads off of people.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Good, Professional, Some, Swine

I am not a yachting person, by nature, but I have just enough experience on the sea under sail to feel a certain nostalgia for it when I see a big white racing yacht heeled over at cruising speed on the ocean, and I can still tie a mean bowline knot on just about anything in less than 10 seconds.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Sail, Racing, Big, Seconds

Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Happy, Going, Considers, Prospect

Democracy as a system has evolved into something that Thomas Jefferson didn't anticipate.

- Hunter S. Thompson

System, Evolved, Anticipate, Jefferson

You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug, especially when its waving a razor sharp hunting knife in your eye.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Turn, Back, Waving, Razor

All the blood is drained out of democracy - it dies - when only half the population votes.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Only, Drained, Half, Population

Justice is expensive in America. There are no Free Passes... You might want to remember this, the next time you get careless and blow off a few Parking Tickets. They will come back to haunt you the next time you see a Cop car in your rear-view mirror.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Mirror, Parking, Next, Next Time

I wasn't trying to be an outlaw writer. I never heard of that term; somebody else made it up. But we were all outside the law: Kerouac, Miller, Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kesey; I didn't have a gauge as to who was the worst outlaw. I just recognized allies: my people.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Outlaw, Recognized, Else, Allies

Richard Nixon was an evil man - evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Devil, Richard, Nixon, None

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Give, Other, Counsel, Foolish

I have never believed much in luck, and my sense of humor has tended to walk on the dark side.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Luck, Sense Of Humor, Side, Believed

I am more than just a serious basketball fan. I am a life-long addict. I was addicted from birth, in fact, because I was born in Kentucky and I learned, early on, that Habitual Domination was a natural way of life.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Fact, Domination, Habitual, Early

The Hell's Angels try not to do anything halfway, and anyone who deals in extremes is bound to cause trouble, whether he means to or not. This, along with a belief in total retaliation for any offense or insult, is what makes the Hell's Angels unmanageable for the police and morbidly fascinating to the general public.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Hell, Offense, Cause, Retaliation

I am surprised and embarrassed to be a part of the first American generation to leave the country in far worse shape than it was when we first came into it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Generation, Country, Shape, Surprised

Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Luck, Wire, Very, Between

There are many harsh lessons to be learned from the gambling experience, but the harshest one of all is the difference between having Fun and being Smart.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Gambling, Having, Learned, Between

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.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Guns, Tries, Hundred, Qualms

Gambling can turn into a dangerous two-way street when you least expect it. Weird things happen suddenly, and your life can go all to pieces.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Gambling, Happen, Dangerous, Two-Way

By any accepted standard, I have had more than nine lives. I counted them up once, and there were 13 times I almost and maybe should have died.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Nine, Standard, Lives, Counted

March is a month without mercy for rabid basketball fans. There is no such thing as a 'gentleman gambler' when the Big Dance rolls around. All sheep will be fleeced, all fools will be punished severely... There are no Rules when the deal goes down in the final weeks of March. Even your good friends will turn into monsters.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Big, Deal, Weeks, Good Friends

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

Going, Get, Else, Locked

The writer must be a participant in the scene... like a film director who writes his own scripts, does his own camera work, and somehow manages to film himself in action, as the protagonist or at least the main character.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Work, Director, Like, Camera

The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Morning, Will, Gray, Dew

There is no fool like a careless gambler who starts taking victory for granted.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Fool, Victory, Like, Careless

Nixon was a crook, of course, but he was also a rabid football fan - and he knew the game, which still astounds me, but I have always had a soft spot for him because of it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Game, Always, Which, Soft Spot

Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Pants, Needed, Nixon, Screw

I have long understood that losing always comes with the territory when you wander into the gambling business, just as getting crippled for life is an acceptable risk in the linebacker business. They both are extremely violent sports, and pain is part of the bargain. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Violent, Part, Acceptable, Wander

Politics is the art of controlling your environment.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Art, Politics, Environment, Controlling

Yes sir, I am a tortured man for all seasons, as they say, and I have powerful friends in high places. Birds sing where I walk, and children smile when they see me coming.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Smile, Birds, Tortured, High Places

There is always room for losers in the football business. They are the mother's milk of gambling, and why not? Somebody has to do it, or there won't be any winners.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Business, Winners, Always, Why Not

I have learned, in my life and work as a sportswriter, that big-time Sports and big-time Politics are not so far apart in America. They are both a means to the same end, which is victory... And why not? Victory is good for you, and don't let anybody tell you different.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Politics, My Life, Anybody, Why Not

Of all the men that have run for president in the twentieth century, only George McGovern truly understood what a monument America could be to the human race.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Run, Race, Could, Monument

As long as I'm learning something, I figure I'm OK - it's a decent day.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Learning, Decent, Figure, OK

I hate pain, despite my ability to tolerate it beyond all known parameters, which is not necessarily a good thing.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Pain, Which, A Good Thing, Tolerate

There is no such thing as paranoia. Your worst fears can come true at any moment.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Fear, True, Worst, Paranoia

Paranoia is just another word for ignorance.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Ignorance, Just, Another, Paranoia

I don't think that my kind of journalism has ever been universally popular. It's lonely out here.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Think, Here, Been, Journalism

I've already become a mastodon in print - I don't see a consciousness for my kind of journalism.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Kind, Consciousness, Print, Journalism

With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Exception, Race, Like, Journalism

I can't think in terms of journalism without thinking in terms of political ends. Unless there's been a reaction, there's been no journalism. It's cause and effect.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Think, Reaction, Been, Journalism

Objective journalism is one of the main reasons that American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Politics, Been, Reasons, Journalism

That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn't entirely conquer - he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Rest, Generation, Always, Doomed

I am a professional sportswriter, among other things, and I take the games seriously. It is only one of my many powerful addictions, and I don't mind admitting any of them.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Mind, Other, Them, Addictions

I was 22 when JFK was murdered, and I will never recover from it... Never.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Never, Will, Recover, JFK

The behavior of the crowd at Churchill Downs is like 100,000 vicious Hyenas going berserk all at once in a space about the size of a 777 jet or the White House lawn.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Downs, Vicious, Berserk, Churchill

Rude people will now & then ask me why I think I know so much about Politics. I tell them it's because I'm Smart... But that is a lie: The real reason is because I'm an incurable Gambling addict.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Politics, Reason, I Think, Addict

Nixon was a bad loser. He hated losing worse than death, and that is why I enjoyed him. We were both football fans, both addicts; and on some days, nothing else mattered.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Some, Mattered, Nixon, Addict

Jack Kerouac influenced me quite a bit as a writer... in the Arab sense that the enemy of my enemy was my friend.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Enemy, Sense, Influenced, Jack

The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot - and it's only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Stupid, Mind, Controls, Rot

The best thing about the Kentucky Derby is that it is only two minutes long. It is the quickest event in sports, except for Sumo-wrestling & Mike Tyson fights. Maybe Drag-racing is quicker, but I have never been attracted to it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Been, Maybe, Mike, Derby

One of the most basic factors in sports is that winning becomes a habit, and losing is the same way. When failure starts to feel normal in your life or your work or even your darkest vices, you won't have to go looking for trouble, because trouble will find you. Count on it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Life, Feel, Your, Vices

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

- Hunter S. Thompson

Truth, Never, Hours, Nine-To-Five

Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairytale artist.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Fiction, Unless, Based, Fairytale

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

- Hunter S. Thompson

Beauty, Triumph, Instance, Trampled

I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Thought, Never, Myth, I Believe

The only difference between the sane and the insane is that the sane have the power to lock up the insane.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Only, Sane, Only Difference, Between

Victory is a fleeting thing in the gambling business. Today's winners are tomorrow's blinking toads, dumb beasts with no hope.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Business, Fleeting, Winners, Toad

Freedom is something that dies unless it's used.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Freedom, Used, Unless, Dies

I have always hated bowling, and I don't mind admitting it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Mind, Bowling, Always, Admitting

Remember this, folks - I am a Hillbilly, and I don't always Bet the same way I talk. Good advice is one thing, but smart gambling is quite another.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Advice, Always, Another, Hillbilly

Nixon was no more a saint than he was a great president.

- Hunter S. Thompson

More, Saint, Nixon, President

The trouble with Nixon is that he's a serious politics junkie. He's totally hooked and like any other junkie, he's a bummer to have around, especially as President.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Politics, Other, Nixon, President

It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Law, Always, Chain, Food Chain

Football fans share a universal language that cuts across many cultures and many personality types. A serious football fan is never alone. We are legion, and football is often the only thing we have in common.

- Hunter S. Thompson

The Only Thing, Often, Types, Universal

February is always a bad month for TV sports. Football is gone, basketball is plodding along in the annual midseason doldrums, and baseball is not even mentioned.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Bad, Always, TV, Mentioned

Quacks are a part of our culture, and we all fall prey to them. Who among us can say, for sure, that even our own personal physicians are honest and competent?

- Hunter S. Thompson

Prey, Sure, Part, Competent

I guess that's one of the things about growing up in the fifties - it never occurred to me that you wouldn't be at least as successful as your parents.

- Hunter S. Thompson

About, One Of The Things, Successful

I have always loved blizzards, if only because of the driving experience - which is definitely an acquired taste.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Always, Taste, Which, Acquired

Yesterday's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Tomorrow, Reason, Yesterday, Weirdness

I learned a long time ago that reality was much weirder than anyone's imagination.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Imagination, Learned, Weirder

Truth is weirder than any fiction I've seen.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Truth, Fiction, Than, Weirder

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Chance, Buy, Take, Ticket

You better take care of me Lord, if you don't you're gonna have me on your hands.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Hands, Better, Take, Care

The only thing wrong with the NBA - or any other professional sport, for that matter - is a wild epidemic of Dumbness and overweening Greed. There is no Mystery about it, and no need to change any rules.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Need, Other, Epidemic, Greed

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

- Hunter S. Thompson

Alcohol, Always, Worked, Advocate

In my heart, I am always a Raider.

- Hunter S. Thompson

I Am, Always, Am, Raider

'Crazy' is a term of art; 'Insane' is a term of law. Remember that, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Art, Remember, Lot, Trouble

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Sports, Weird, Going, Gets

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.

- Hunter S. Thompson

People, Over, Explain, Gone

There might be some serious fun in politics.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Politics, Some, Might, Serious

Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Politics, Guilty, Everybody, Comfortable

Without gambling, I would not exist.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Without, Exist, Would, Gambling

The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Weird, Still, Efforts, Despite

Nixon represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Country, Violent, Side, Despise

A word to the wise is infuriating.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Funny, Wise, Infuriating, Word

I had a soft-spot in my heart for Ronald Reagan, if only because he was a sportswriter in his youth.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Heart, Youth, Had, Reagan

Some may never live, but the crazy never die.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Die, Never, Some, Live

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