QuoteProject
All political power comes from the barrel of either guns, pussy, or opium pipes, and people seem to like it that way.
Hunter S. Thompson
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that power in society is derived from force, sex, or drugs, and that people are complicit in this dynamic.

Hunter S. Thompson's quote reflects a cynical view of how political power is maintained. It implies that society often gravitates towards the more primal sources of power, whether they be violence ('guns'), sexual appeal ('pussy'), or substances ('opium pipes'), and suggests that people are comfortable with this reality, even if it leads to detrimental consequences. This perspective highlights a troubling relationship between power and the darker aspects of human nature and societal behavior.

Themes

PowerPoliticsSocietyControlHuman Nature

In practice

Example use cases

A political debate discussing the role of violence in achieving political goals.

More from Hunter S. Thompson

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. ThompsonRead
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.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead
Fiction is a bridge to the truth that journalism can't reach.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead
There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead
Objective journalism is one of the main reasons that American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead
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.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead

Similar quotes

British rule depends upon repression and collaboration and the Irish people should recognise that those who collaborate with Britain in exchange for a slice of the cake will implement British policy and remain silent when Irish people are murdered and oppressed. It is they who are responsible for prolonging the war in Ireland. Without the quislings, without the collaborators, we would already have reached freedom.
Martin McguinnessRead
Why is it that right-wing bastards always stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity, while liberals fall out among themselves?
Yevgeny YevtushenkoRead
Since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters' own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians.
Milton FriedmanRead
It's hard to overstate the lasting harm Mr. Tillerson's tenure will do to America's diplomacy.
Antony BlinkenRead
Whether it is in the United States or in mainland Europe, written constitutions have one great weakness. That is that they contain the potential to have judges take decisions which should properly be made by democratically elected politicians.
Margaret ThatcherRead
All of us can agree that we want government to work as well as possible, and we should all applaud efforts to improve it. But there is no escaping the divisive and essential questions: What is the purpose of the state, and whom does it serve?
Chrystia FreelandRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Hunter S. Thompson | QuoteProject