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.
The highways are crowded with people who drive as if their sole purpose in getting behind the wheel is to avenge every wrong done them by man, beast or fate. The only thing that keeps them in line is their fear of death, jail and lawsuits.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on human behavior and motivation, suggesting that many people are driven by a desire for revenge and fear of consequences.
Hunter S. Thompson's quote critiques the aggressive and often reckless driving behaviors displayed by individuals on the road. It implies that people are often motivated by personal grievances and a desire for retribution, rather than a sense of responsibility or respect for others. This behavior is tempered only by the fear of severe repercussions, such as death or legal consequences, highlighting a raw aspect of human nature and societal norms.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about road rage and its psychological implications.
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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Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.
A saint is a person who behaves decently in a shockingly indecent society.
I foresee a great funeral contest over me.
Self-righteousness is the inevitable fruit of simple moral judgments.
Indeed, what is startling about the notion of a victimless crime is that even when the behavior in question is genuinely victimless, its criminality is still affirmed by those who are eager to punish it. It is in such cases that the true genius lurking behind many of our laws stands revealed. The idea of a victimless crime is nothing more than a judicial reprise of the Christian notion of sin.