Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey
Edward Paul Abbeywas an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth29 January 1927
CountryUnited States of America
bigger cloud dark name small
For there is a cloud on my horizon. A small dark cloud no bigger than my hand. Its name is Progress.
church equal faculty good less social state sum university worthy
In social institutions, the whole is always less than the sum of its parts. There will never be a state as good as its people, or a church worthy of its congregation, or a university equal to its faculty and students.
culture infancy knowing man manhood modern possible proceed senility
In the modern techno-industrial culture, it is possible to proceed from infancy into senility without ever knowing manhood
love marriage laughter
Be loyal to what you love, be true to the earth, fight your enemies with passion and laughter.
thinking thought-provoking innovation
Where all think alike there is little danger of innovation.
beautiful character way
Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful. (p 41)
There has never been a day in my life when I was not in love.
dying tragedy tragic
It is not death or dying that is tragic, but rather to have existed without fully participating in life- that is the deepest personal tragedy.
freedom rights discovery
What good is a Bill of Rights that does not include the right to play, to wander, to explore, the right to stillness and solitude, to discovery and physical freedom?
heaven grace wealth
Wealth should come like manna from heaven, unearned and uncalled for. Money should be like grace -- a gift. It is not worth sweating and scheming for.
style sake too-much
Style: There is something in too much verbal felicity (as in Joyce or Nabokov or Borges) that can betray the writer into technique for the sake of technique.
arms reason
What is reason? Knowledge informed by sympathy, intelligence in the arms of love.
spiritual food age
Nobody seems more obsessed by diet than our antimaterialist, otherworldly, New Age, spiritual types. But if the material world is merely illusion, an honest guru should as content with Budweiser and bratwurst as with raw carrot juice, tofu, and seaweed slime.