Edward Abbey Quotes - Page 3

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• The earth is not a mechanism but an organism, a being with its own life and its own reasons, where the support and sustenance of the human animal is incidental. If man in his newfound power and vanity persists in the attempt to remake the planet in his own image, he will succeed only in destroying himself - not the planet. The earth will survive our most ingenious folly.

  Edward Abbey

  Animal, Men, Vanity

  "The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West". Book by Edward Abbey ("Shadows from the Big Woods", p. 225), 1977.

  9 Copy quote

• In the American Southwest, I began a lifelong love affair with a pile of rock.

  Edward Abbey

  Rocks, Climbing, Hiking

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.47, RosettaBooks

  16 Copy quote

• Those who fear death most are those who enjoy life least.

  Edward Abbey

  Enjoy Life, Fear Of Death, Enjoy

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.27, RosettaBooks

  12 Copy quote

• The real work of men was hunting meat. The invention of agriculture was a giant step in the wrong direction, leading to serfdom, cities, and empire. From a race of hunters, artists, warriors, and tamers of horses, we degraded ourselves to what we are now: clerks, functionaries, laborers, entertainers, processors of information.

  Edward Abbey

  Horse, Real, Warrior

  27 Copy quote

• Government: If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

  Edward Abbey

  Government, Law, Liberty

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.20, RosettaBooks

  20 Copy quote

• Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.

  Edward Abbey

  Inspiring, Peace, Diversity

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.25, RosettaBooks

  33 Copy quote

• The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key.

  Edward Abbey

  Journey, Keys, Hiking

  19 Copy quote

• It is not enough to understand the natural world; the point is to defend and
  preserve it.

  Edward Abbey

  Nature, World, Enough

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.47, RosettaBooks

  32 Copy quote

• Walking takes longer... than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed.

  Edward Abbey

  Life, Native American, Hiking

  27 Copy quote

• A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

  Edward Abbey

  Inspirational, Country, Freedom

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.17, RosettaBooks

  95 Copy quote

• When guns are outlawed, only the Government will have guns. The Government - and a few outlaws. If that happens, you can count me among the outlaws.

  Edward Abbey

  Gun, Government, Outlaw

  Edward Abbey (2006). “Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast”

  16 Copy quote

• Where all think alike there is little danger of innovation.

  Edward Abbey

  Thinking, Thought Provoking, Innovation

  Edward Abbey (1988). “Desert Solitaire”, p.158, University of Arizona Press

  15 Copy quote

• New Yorkers like to boast that if you can survive in New York, you can survive anywhere. But if you can survive anywhere, why live in New York?

  Edward Abbey

  New York, Boast, New Yorkers

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.57, RosettaBooks

  5 Copy quote

• In the Soviet Union, government controls industry. In the United States, industry controls government. That is the principal structural difference between the two great oligarchies of our time.

  Edward Abbey

  Government, Two, Differences

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.19, RosettaBooks

  23 Copy quote

• The most common form of terrorism in the U.S.A. is that carried on by bulldozers and chain saws.

  Edward Abbey

  Saws, Common, Terrorism

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.53, RosettaBooks

  25 Copy quote

• This is the most beautiful place on Earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.

  Edward Abbey

  Beautiful, Nature, Travel

  Edward Abbey (1988). “Desert Solitaire”, p.1, University of Arizona Press

  18 Copy quote

• The greater your dreams, the more terrible your nightmares.

  Edward Abbey

  Dream, Nightmare, Terrible

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.26, RosettaBooks

  16 Copy quote

• Every moment is precious. And precarious.

  Edward Abbey

  Moments, Precarious

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.27, RosettaBooks

  4 Copy quote

• Recorded history is largely an account of the crimes and disasters committed by banal little men at the levers of imperial machines.

  Edward Abbey

  Men, Machines, Levers

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.19, RosettaBooks

  10 Copy quote

• And if the computer gives you any back talk, pour some well-sugared office coffee into its evil little silicon brain.

  Edward Abbey

  Coffee, Evil, Giving

  12 Copy quote

• The feminist notion that the whole of human history has been nothing but a vast intricate conspiracy by men to enslave their wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters presents us with an intellectual neurosis for which we do not yet have a name.

  Edward Abbey

  Daughter, Mother, Men

  9 Copy quote

• Under the desert sun, in the dogmatic clarity, the fables of theology and the myths of classical philosophy dissolve like mist. The air is clean, the rock cuts cruelly into flesh; shatter the rock and the odor of flint rises to your nostrils, bitter and sharp. Whirlwinds dance across the salt flats, a pillar of dust by day; the thornbush breaks into flame at night. What does it mean? It means nothing. It is as it is and has no need for meaning. The desert lies beneath and soars beyond any possible human qualification. Therefore, sublime.

  Edward Abbey

  Philosophy, Lying, Mean

  16 Copy quote

• Life is too tragic for sadness: Let us rejoice.

  Edward Abbey

  Sadness, Life Is, Tragic

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.26, RosettaBooks

  13 Copy quote

• Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life-forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.

  Edward Abbey

  Flower, Space, Light

  Edward Abbey (1988). “Desert Solitaire”, p.26, University of Arizona Press

  63 Copy quote

• Heaven is home. Utopia is here. Nirvana is now.

  Edward Abbey

  Home, Heaven, Utopia

  Edward Abbey (1954). “Slumgullion stew: an Edward Abbey reader”, E P Dutton

  12 Copy quote

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