Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Thompson describes the Hell's Angels as a feared, arrogant outlaw gang with a notorious reputation.
In plain terms
He says the Hell's Angels are a notorious, arrogant biker gang.
What can you take from it?
Beware of groups that cultivate a violent, rebellious image.

Where it applies

  • describing subcultures
  • analyzing criminal groups

Putting it to work

  • documentary research
  • cultural critique

Questions to consider

  • What makes a group gain a feared reputation?
  • How does image affect behavior?

Another view

The description is sensational and may exaggerate the group's true nature.

More from Hunter S. Thompson

  1. If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.

    Permalink to quote #13
  2. A man who has blown all his options can't afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can't afford to admit - …

    Permalink to quote #15
  3. But speaking of rules, you've been arrested dozens of times in your life. Specific incidents aside, what's common to these run-ins? Where do you stand vis-a-vi…

    Permalink to quote #12

Related quotes

  1. 'Coups, murders, rapes, violence, brutality, burglaries, incest, rebellion, homosexuality and other forms of social ills and criminality are a product of a gen…

    James Ah KoyJames Ah Koy quote #9
  2. It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sa…

    Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #1
  3. I sometimes wondered what the use of any of the arts was. The best thing I could come up with was what I call the canary in the coal mine theory of the arts. T…

    Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut quote #1