Edward Abbey: Trending quotes (page 5)

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“In the land of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, one brave and honest man is bound to create a scandal.”

Edward Abbey

Source: Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.”

Edward Abbey

Source: Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

Wisdom , Knowledge

“The rifle and handgun are 'equalizers' -- the weapons of a democracy. Tanks and bombers represent dictatorship.”

Edward Abbey
Democracy

“Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.”

Edward Abbey book Desert Solitaire

"Water", p. 113; this is often quoted as simply: Without courage, all other virtues are useless. <!-- Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey, 1951-1989 (1994) p. 207 -->
Source: Desert Solitaire (1968)
Context: Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.

Courage , Joy

“If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers, craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists, then the rich would have little power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor to rule: That was the American dream.”

Edward Abbey
Dreams

“Music clouds the intellect but clarifies the heart.”

Edward Abbey

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto): Notes from a Secret Journal

Music , Heart

“Capitalism: Nothing so mean could be right. Greed is the ugliest of the capital sins.”

Edward Abbey

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990), Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

“[Concerning river runners:] If we were going into war again I can't think of any I'd rather have on our side. I mean, all of these good men and women. And if they were on the other side I'd join the other side.”

Edward Abbey book Down the River

Down the River (1982)

Women , Men , War , Thinking

“Most academic economists know nothing of economy. In fact, they know little of anything.”

Edward Abbey

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990), Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 97

“We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may not ever need to go there.”

Edward Abbey book Desert Solitaire

"The Heart of Noon", p. 116
Desert Solitaire (1968)

“Nothing could be older than the daily news, nothing deader than yesterday's newspaper.”

Edward Abbey

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990), Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

“Business: Busyness.”

Edward Abbey

Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990), Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

Business

“Don't let yourself become cynical. Cynicism is a cheap emotion, a craven substitute for thought and action. Cynicism corrodes the will, dulls the conscience, blunts your sense of right and wrong… Stay alert to fine distinctions: become a pessimist like me.”

Edward Abbey book Hayduke Lives

Hayduke Lives (1990)

Sense

“God is a sound people make when they're too tired to think anymore.”

Edward Abbey

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)

God , People , Thinking

“Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers — obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls.”

Edward Abbey

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)

Fools

“The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee-pad conservative.”

Edward Abbey

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)

Jerk

“I once sat on the rim of a mesa above the Rio Grande for three days and nights, trying to have a vision. I got hungry and saw God in the form of a beef pie.”

Edward Abbey

"How It Was", page 55
Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside (1984)

God , Night