Hunter S. Thompson--the legendary author who at once made journalism seem both rock and roll and incredibly filthy--would have been 75 years old today. The Gonzo journalist died at 67, after shooting himself in his Colorado home in 2005.

Thompson left his wife, Anita, a suicide note, which was published in the Rolling Stone September issue that year. Titled "Football Season Is Over," it read: 

"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun -- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax -- This won't hurt."

But Thompson left behind far more than just a note. His eccentric body of work, including "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "The Rum Diary," shared his twisted humor and outlook with the world and landed him cult status.

 

Below are just a few of his musings that will please the cynic in any writer:

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

“One of them is knowing the difference between Morality and Wisdom. Morality is temporary, Wisdom is permanent… Ho ho. Take that one to bed with you tonight.”

“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.” 

“I was not proud of what I had learned but I never doubted that it was worth knowing.” 

“Too strange to live, too rare to die!” 

“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.” 

“I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on Fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed. My father taught me that, along with a few other things that have kept my life interesting.” 

“In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile..."

“We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.” 

"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."

 

Reach Senior Entertainment Editor Sarah Parvini here.