Hunter S. Thompson Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. A man can live on his wits and his balls for only so long. The Rum Diary

2. A word to the wise is infuriating.

3. 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. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

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

5. 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. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

6. KNOW YOUR DOPE FIEND. YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT! You will not be able to see his eyes because of the Tea-Shades, but his knuckles will be white from inner tension and his pants will be crusted with semen from constantly jacking off when he can't find a rape victim. He will stagger and babble when questioned. He will not respect your badge. The Dope Fiend fears nothing. He will attack, for no reason, with every weapon at his command-including yours. BEWARE. Any officer apprehending a suspected marijuana addict should use all necessary force immediately. One stitch in time (on him) will usually save nine on you. Good luck.-The Chief Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

7. Morality is temporary, wisdom is permanent. Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

8. On some days you get what you want, and on others, you get what you need. Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

9. She laughed. 'It won't last. Nothing lasts. But I'm happy now.''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 too 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. The Rum Diary

10. So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?

11. This is the fast lane, folks...and some of us like it here. Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

12. We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and—in spite of True Romance magazines—we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely—at least, not all the time—but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness. The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

13. Across the board... Not junkies or freaks, but people who were just as comfortable with drugs like weed, booze, or coke as we are - and we're not weird, are we? Hell no, we're just overworked professionals who need to relax now and then, have a bit of the whoop and the giggle, right? Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

14. 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

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

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

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

18. 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. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

19. Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.