Hunter S. Thompson is one of
America’s great off-color anecdotists. Though a
genius for all forms of writing, much of Thompson’s
staying power rests in his ability to rattle off those delightful
sound bites. Thompson lines are the kind that you can quote to the delight of all your smartass friends or stick in your
home node. One of my favorite of Thompson’s
axioms tackles the
nebulous field of
journalism:
"Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits, a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo cage."
-Hunter S. Thompson
This quote is particularly effective when plastered on the wall of a university
journalism department or
campus newspaper.