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
believe fidelity being-true
I, too, believe in fidelity. But how can I be true to one woman without being false to all the others?
believe hopeful happy-endings
I am hopeful, though not full of hope, and the only reason I don't believe in happy endings is because I don't believe in endings.
believe mind ghost
Do I believe in ghosts? I believe in the ghosts that haunt the human mind.
death believe men
I do not believe in personal immortality; it seems so unnecessary. Show me one man who deserves to live forever.
religious horse believe
Belief? What do I believe in? I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storm, drums, flutes, banjos, and broom-tailed horses....
distance kids work-out
Simplicity is always a virtue. One kid on a riverbank working out a Stephen Foster tune on his new harmonica heard from the correct esthetic distance projects more magic and power than the entire Vienna Philharmonic and Chorus laboring (once again) through the Mozart Requiem or Bach's B Minor Mass.
book ideas smell
Music endures and ages far better than books. Books, made of words, are unavoidably attached to ideas, events, conflict, and history, but music has the power to transcend time. At least for a time. Palestrina sounds as fresh today as he did in 1555, but Dante, only three centuries older, already smells of the archaic, the medieval, the catacombs.
writing police musical
Poor Dimitri Shostakovich: In the Soviet Union, he was condemned as being too radical; in the West, for being too conservative. He could please no one but the musical public. He revenged himself on both by writing a short piece called 'March of the Soviet Police.'
mind states chastity
Chastity is more a state of mind than of anatomy.
hate people musical
Grand opera is a form of musical entertainment for people who hate music.
men opera sopranos
Opera: I like it, except for all those howling sopranos and caterwauling tenors. (Why can't tenors sing like men?)
cutting singing said
As Mark Twain said, 'I love Wagner -- if only they'd cut out all that damned singing!'
museums world-literature pay
Most of what we call the classics of world literature suggest artifacts in a wax museum. We have to hire and pay professors to get them read and talked about.
moving agreement voice
Why the critics, like a flock of ducks, always move in perfect unison: Their authority with the public depends upon an appearance of unanimous agreement. One dissenting voice would shatter the whole fragile structure.