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
world essentials useless
We live in the kind of world where courage is the most essential of virtues; without courage, the other virtues are useless.
tragedy worth-living
A life without tragedy would not be worth living.
reading men biographies
The consolation of reading biography: Most great men have led lives even more miserable than our own.
children half dozen
If we had the power of ten Shakespeares or a dozen Mozarts, we could not produce anything half so marvelous as one ordinary human child.
gravestone epitaph please
Epitaphs for a gravestone: 'Please: no hooliganism'; or 'Es prohibe se hace agua aqui'; or 'No comment'.
two giving superstitions
We live in a time of twin credulities: the hunger for the miraculous combined with a servile awe of science. The mating of the two gives us superstition plus scientism -- a Mongoloid metaphysic.
philosophy men two
Every man has two vocations: his own and philosophy.
military war people
The Latino military fare badly when they stumble into war with the gringos. But in the torture, murder, and massacre of their own people, they have always performed with brilliance and elan.
desert
Why do I live in the desert? Because the desert is the *locus Dei*.
thinking vanity world
The absurd vanity of metaphysicians who like to imagine that they create the world by thinking about it.
horse plato cows
Reply to Plato: I seen horses I seen cows I haint never yet seen horsiness nor that there bovinity neither.
rainbow giving matter
Only a fool would leave the enjoyment of rainbows to the opticians. Or give the science of optics the last word on the matter.
believe kissing embrace
I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
law space alaska
Alaska's chief attractions are: (a) its small and insignificant human population, thanks to the miserable climate; and (b) its large and magnificent wildlife population, thanks to (a). Both of these attractions are being rapidly diminished, however, by (c) the Law of Growth and Space-Age Sleaze.