Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson had a lot of cool quotes. Although he was quite the handful, HST has been one of my favorite people for some time. His ability to grab life and just do it causes an admiration. More people should have some of this gusto. It can bring upon some interesting adventures.

This quote comes from Thompson’s book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (published in 1971). The full quote: “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 up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

According to the Urban Dictionary, it simply means: Creating and being involved in a situation that may get you in way over your head but deciding that turning back would be a rather uninteresting option.

I pair the phrase, “Buy the Ticket; Take the Ride,” with the notion that there are some journeys we just need to take. Some journeys are with ourselves; some with others. Either way, it seems the outcome can be forever or it can go down in flames but, in the end, we come out a different person — either a lot different or a little different. With love, the internal warnings, the red flags, the concerns never weigh the same as the dopamine rushes, the love-bombing or the bond.

I bought the ticket (and the smiles, the promises, the exorbitant amount of love and admiration) and I took the ride — to another state. Florida to be exact. But, this is a tale for another time (shared story). A tale to share which will hopefully help anyone who has been on this type of journey or currently going through this type of journey.

As I wandered around the Internet looking for HST quotes, I came across an article by Jack Archer called “23 Brilliant Life Lessons from Hunter S. Thompson.” You can access the article here: https://airows.com/culture/23-epic-hunter-s-thompson-quotes

As you read through these quotes, you may assume that many of these are for people who do not take real life seriously. I take too much too seriously. But, fortunately, my bohemian and creative side allows for times to remember that life is a fabulous journey and we are the engineers of our own trains. We choose our journeys (consciously and subconsciously) and we…