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
sea critics rail
Any hack can safely rail away at foreign powers beyond the sea; but a good writer is a critic of the society he lives in.
rights rocks black
Rocks, like louseworts and snail darters and pupfish and 3rd-world black, lesbian, militant poets, have rights, too. Especially the right to exist.
cowboy american-west revolution
The sexual revolution transformed the American West: Now even cowboys can get laid.
symphony musical trying
Anton Bruckner wrote the same symphony nine times, trying to get it just right. He failed.
elk saving cows
It's true: Every time you kill an elk, you're saving some cow's life.
school unity cows
Literary critics, like a herd of cows or a school of fish, always face in the same direction, obeying that love for unity that every critic requires.
writing selective
I would prefer to write about everything; what else is there? But one must be selective.
new-york heart virginia
I am happy to be a regional writer. My region is the American West, old Mexico, West Virginia, New York, Europe, Australia, the human heart, and the male groin.
art philosophy crude
Art, science, philosophy, religion -- each offers at best only a crude simplification of actual living experience.
long natural be-good
I intend to be good for the rest of my natural life -- if I live that long.
horse central-park years
I would give ten years off the beginning of my life to see, only once, Tyrannosaurus rex come rearing up from the elms of Central Park, a Morgan police horse screaming in its jaws. We can never have enough of nature.
knee-jerk-reactions knees pads
The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee- pad conservative....
suicide sex availability
The ready availability of suicide, like sex and alcohol, is one of life's basic consolations.
wine night easy-days
There is a wine called Easy Days and Mellow Nights, well-known on the outskirts of the Navajo reservation. It is an economical wine, fortified with the best of intentions, and I recommend it to every serious wino.