Edward Abbey Quotes

A collection of quotes by Edward Abbey.

Edward Abbey (1927-1989) was an American writer and environmental advocate, best known for his works of fiction and non-fiction that explore the themes of nature, wilderness, and environmental activism. Born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Abbey developed a deep love and appreciation for the outdoors from an early age. He studied philosophy at the University of New Mexico and later earned a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Abbey's experiences as a park ranger in various national parks across the western United States profoundly influenced his writings. His most famous work, the novel "The Monkey Wrench Gang" (1975), is a fictional story about a group of environmental activists who plot to sabotage development projects to protect the natural landscape. This novel, along with his essays in works such as "Desert Solitaire" (1968), established Abbey as a leading voice in the environmental movement, advocating for the preservation of wild spaces.

Known for his irreverent and often provocative writing style, Abbey's works championed the idea of rewilding and criticized industrial development that encroached upon the natural environment. His writings celebrated the beauty and importance of wilderness while condemning the destruction caused by human activities.

Edward Abbey's legacy extends beyond his literary contributions. He inspired a generation of environmental activists, earning a reputation as an influential figure in the fight to protect America's wild lands. His works continue to be widely read and appreciated today, maintaining his impact as a passionate advocate for the environment.

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spir

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.

Love can defeat that nameless terror. Loving one another, we

Love can defeat that nameless terror. Loving one another, we take the sting from death. Loving our mysterious blue planet, we resolve riddles and dissolve all enigmas in contingent bliss.

Death Love Inspire

The more we learn of outer space and inner space, of quasars

The more we learn of outer space and inner space, of quasars and quarks, of Big Bangs and Little Blips, the more remote, abstract and intellectually inconsequential it all becomes.

I would give ten years off the beginning of my life to see,

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.

All we have, it seems to me, is the beauty of art and nature

All we have, it seems to me, is the beauty of art and nature and life, and the love which that beauty inspires.

Life Art Nature Beauty Love

I'd like to see North America become a dry, sunny, sandy reg

I'd like to see North America become a dry, sunny, sandy region inhabited mainly by lizards, buzzards and a modest human population - about 25 million would be plenty - of pastoralists and prospectors (prospecting for truth), gathering once a year in the ruins of ancient, mysterious cities for great ceremonies of music, art, dance, poetry, joy, faith and renewal. That's my dream of the American future. Like most such dreams, it will probably come true. That is why I'm still an optimist.

But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the

But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.

Truth Writer Duty

We live in a time of twin credulities: the hunger for the mi

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.

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

I don't see how poetry can ever be easy... Real poetry, the

I don't see how poetry can ever be easy... Real poetry, the thick, dense, intense, complicated stuff that lives and endures, requires blood sweat; blood and sweat are essential elements in poetry as well as behind it.

No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious dem

No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

That's the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It

That's the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn't matter much whether you get where you're going or not. You'll get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home.

We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We

We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there.... We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope.

Though men now possess the power to dominate and exploit eve

Though men now possess the power to dominate and exploit every corner of the natural world, nothing in that fact implies that they have the right or the need to do so.

That which today calls itself science gives us more and more

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

For me, it's all about moderation. I don't kick things out o

For me, it's all about moderation. I don't kick things out of my diet, like carbs. But I'm not going to eat fast food.

The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting

The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.

Say what you like about my bloody murderous government,' I s

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

For myself I hold no preferences among flowers, so long as t

For myself I hold no preferences among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. Bricks to all greenhouses! Black thumb and cutworm to the potted plant!

When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.

When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.