D-lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, has been a source of time-tested wisdom since its accidental invention in 1938. It’s been a time-tested source for freaking the hell out, too.
While hordes of authors, activists, and psychonauts have written about LSD, there’s no definitive guide for how to approach it. There’s no one way to describe what the experience is like. That’s because, like all subjective psychedelic journeys, mileage may vary depending on who’s behind the wheel.
However, there are some general pointers and observations that could benefit novices and veterans alike. And who better to provide these wise snippets other than the very people who’ve unabashedly tripped? Here are a few of our favorite quotes — some insightful, some funny, and some a bit of both — about LSD from authors, musicians, activists, and actors.
Best LSD Quotes
“Through my LSD experience and my new picture of reality, I became aware of the wonder of creation, the magnificence of nature and of the animal and plant kingdom. I became very sensitive to what will happen to all this and all of us.”
— Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD
“As for LSD, I highly recommend it. We had a fine, wild weekend and no trouble at all. The feeling it produces is hard to describe. ‘Intensity’ is a fair word for it. Try half a [dosed sugar] cube at first, just sit in the living room and turn on the music — after the kids have gone to bed. But never take it in uncomfortable or socially tense situations. And don’t have anybody around whom you don’t like.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman
READ: 57 Greatest Psychedelic Quotes Celebrating Science, Spirit—and A Little Mischief
“Many say they can understand themselves better when they take LSD. Rubbish! They’re idiots, who talk like that. If I were to take LSD, then only for my personal entertainment, for fun, or just because it pleases me.”
— Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix: In His Own Words by Tony Brown
“We were immediately nailed to the sofa. And I saw God, this amazing towering thing, and I was humbled … It was huge. A massive wall that I couldn’t see the top of, and I was at the bottom. And anybody else would say it’s just the drug, the hallucination, but both Robert and I were like, ‘Did you see that?’ We felt we had seen a higher thing.”
“Everything feels intensified. I’m seeing all types of shit, I’m feeling all types of shit. Colors are moving, I can hear colors. I can taste the colors. Like… what the fuck does a color taste like? … This is a bit graphic, it’s a bit vulgar and raunchy, you know what I mean? But what can I say, it’s no lie: A rainbow shot out of my dick, and it had a sound with it like a piano or some shit like that! I had no idea why there was a rainbow coming out of my penis. I don’t even like rainbows.”
— A$AP Rocky, from the documentary Have a Good Trip
READ: LSD: Everything You Should Know
If you’re down, he’ll pick you up
Doctor Robert
Take a drink from his special cup
Doctor Robert
Doctor Robert
He’s a man you must believe
Helping anyone in need
No one can succeed like
Doctor Robert
Well, well, well, you’re feeling fine
Well, well, well, he’ll make you
Doctor Robert
— The Beatles in “Doctor Robert,” referencing the dentist who reportedly introduced the band to acid
“You want to be prepared and not have responsibilities. It does remind you of your space in the universe … and reframe things for you. I think you can have some very profound experiences … It’s not going to solve all your problems. But, yes, I’m totally supportive of that means to reframe your universe.
— Susan Sarandon, actor and activist
“If God dropped acid, would he see people?”
— George Carlin, comedian
“Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin, and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important — creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.”
— Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc.
“I took 10 tabs of acid, then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end, the horse turned round and told me to fuck off. That was it for me.”
— Ozzy Osbourne, on the final time he dropped a dose
“It’s a psychic energizer… It releases the subconscious. It makes you see all your guilts, fears, repressions and insecurities. It makes you free.”
— Cary Grant, as quoted by Sheilah Graham Westbrook in “Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About published at Motion Picture (June 1964)
“I remember taking LSD before I went to Disneyland. I started thinking about Mickey Mouse being a short, middle-aged man in a costume who hates life. Those drugs can be dangerous if you don’t go into it positively — I gave them up long ago.”
