Edward Abbey quotes - page 5

Edward Abbey was an American author and essayist renowned for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. His works, such as "Desert Solitaire" and "The Monkey Wrench Gang," became influential in the American environmental movement. He inspired generations of activists and remains a provocative voice for wilderness preservation. Here are 179 of his quotes:

Grown men do not need leaders.

Edward Abbey

Anarchism is democracy taken seriously.

Edward Abbey

My own ambition, my deepest and truest ambition, is to find within myself someday, somehow, the ability to do likewise, to do NOTHING - and find it enough.

Edward Abbey

I thought of the wilderness we had left behind us, open to sea and sky, joyous in its plenitude and simplicity, perfect yet vulnerable, unaware of what is coming, defended by nothing, guarded by no one.

Edward Abbey

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

Edward Abbey

Say what you like about my bloody murderous government,' I says, 'but don't insult me poor bleedin' country.

Edward Abbey

If industrial man continues to multiply his numbers and expand his operations he will succeed in his apparent intention, to seal himself off from the natural and isolate himself within a synthetic prison of his own making.

Edward Abbey

The best thing about graduating from the university was that I finally had time to sit on a log and read a good book.

Edward Abbey

If the end does not justify the means - what can?

Edward Abbey

Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers.

Edward Abbey

The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.

Edward Abbey

We know so very little about this strange planet we live on, this haunted world where all answers lead only to more mystery.

Edward Abbey

What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse.

Edward Abbey

We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope.

Edward Abbey

Civilization is a youth with a molotov cocktail in his hand. Culture is the Soviet tank or L.A. cop that guns him down.

Edward Abbey

Saving the world is only a hobby. Most of the time I do nothing.

Edward Abbey

A crude meal, no doubt, but the best of all sauces is hunger.

Edward Abbey

Anyone not paranoid in this world must be crazy. . . . Speaking of paranoia, it's true that I do not know exactly who my enemies are. But that of course is exactly why I'm paranoid.

Edward Abbey

Music clouds the intellect but clarifies the heart.

Edward Abbey

That which today calls itself science gives us more and more information, and indigestible glut of information, and less and less understanding.

Edward Abbey

I now find the most marvelous things in the everyday, the ordinary, the common, the simple and tangible.

Edward Abbey

Climbing K2 or floating the Grand Canyon in an inner tube; there are some things one would rather have done than do.

Edward Abbey