Quotes on Gonzo Journalism

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.

Objective journalism is one of the main reasons that American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long.

Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective Journalism -- which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place.

Because the writer must be a participant in the scene, while he's writing it — or at least taping it, or even sketching it. Or all three. Probably the closest analogy to the ideal would be a film director/producer who writes his own scripts, does his own camera work and somehow manages to film himself in action, as the protagonist or at least a main character.

It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat sh** and die.

Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously.

Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing.

Freedom is something that dies unless it's used.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!

Most people who deal in words don't have much faith in them and I am no exception.

Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak Arabic, love music and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers and warriors.

I have no taste for either poverty or honest labor, so writing is the only recourse left for me

The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.