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.
1) Never trust a cop in a raincoat. 2) Beware of enthusiasm and of love, both are temporary and quick to sway. 3) If asked if you care about the world's problems, look deep into the eyes of he who asks, he will never ask you again. 4) Never give your real name. 5) If ever asked to look at yourself, don't look. 6) Never do anything the person standing in front of you can't understand. 7) Never create anything, it will be misinterpreted, it will chain you and follow you for the rest of your life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote advises caution against trust, temporary emotions, and self-examination, highlighting the complexities of existence.
Hunter S. Thompson's reflections suggest a skeptical view of authority, relationships, and creativity. He warns that trust in figures of authority, such as police, may be misplaced, and that emotional states like love and enthusiasm can be fleeting. Furthermore, he advises against revealing oneself too openly, cautioning that self-exploration can lead to uncomfortable truths. His statement implies that the act of creating can result in perpetual scrutiny and misinterpretation, leading to a lifelong burden of expectations and misunderstandings. Ultimately, the quote encourages a guarded, introspective approach to life.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of human relationships at a seminar.
More from Hunter S. Thompson
All quotes →As things stand now, I am going to be a writer. I'm not sure that I'm going to be a good one or even a self-supporting one, but until the dark thumb of fate presses me to the dust and says 'you are nothing', I will be a writer.
Fiction is a bridge to the truth that journalism can't reach.
There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.
Objective journalism is one of the main reasons that American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long.
When you write for a living and you can't do anything else, you know that sooner or later that the deadline is going to come screaming down on you like a goddamn banshee. There's no avoiding it...So one day you just don't appear at the El Adobe bar anymore; you shut the door, paint the windows black, rent an electric typewriter and become the monster you always were - the writer.
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they simply never understand, do they, that sometimes solitude is one of the most beautiful things on earth?
I cannot remember much, I cannot feel much. Maybe erasure is necessary. Maybe the human spirit defends itself as the body does, attacking infection, enveloping and destroying those malignancies that would otherwise consume us.