Hunter S. Thompson Books

“Whoops. And so much for hubris, eh? I was never able to swing a baseball bat like Ted Williams, and I will never be able to write a song like ‘Mr. Tambourine Man.’ But what the hell? Neither one of those Yo-yos could write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, either.” (Kingdom of Fear)

“Every now and then you run up on one of those days when everythings in vain . . . a stone bummer from start to finish; if you know what’s good for you, on days like these you sortof hunker down in a safe corner and watch. Maybe think a bit. Lay back on a cheap wooden chair, screened off from traffic, and shrewdly rip the poptops out of five or eight Budweisers…smoke off a pack of King Marlboros.” (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)

“Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish — a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly with a heart full of hate who has found a way to live out where the real winds blow — to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested…
Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll.” (Generation of Swine)

“The importance of Liking Yourself is a notion that fell heavily out of favour during the coptic, anti-ego frenzy of the acid era — but nobody guessed back then that the experiment might churn up this kind of hangover; a whole subculture of frightened illiterates with no faith in anything.” (Campaign Trail 72)

“The ugly fallout from the American Dream has been coming down on us at a pretty consistent rate since Sitting Bull’s time-and the only real difference now, with Election Day ‘72 only a few weeks away, is that we seem to be on the verge of ratifying the fallout and forgetting the Dream itself.” (Campaign Trail 72)

“The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what’s coming now. The party’s over, folks. . . [Censorship of the news] is a given in wartime, along with massive campaigns of deliberately-planted “Dis-information”. That is routine behavior in Wartime — for all countries and all combatants — and it makes life difficult for people who value real news.” (When War Drums Roll)

“I’ve always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it’s a bit like f*****g, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don’t do much giggling.”  (On Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)