Quotessence
Home / Books / Desert Solitaire

Desert Solitaire

Book by Edward Abbey · 7 quotes · Wilderness, Nature, Ifs

Filter quotes by topic

AllWildernessNatureIfsDesertMenEarthNational ParksFlowerLongWorldEnvironmental ConservationHumansMayNeedsParksAdventureAnti CarBehindsCitiesClarity

Desert Solitaire Quotes

“But taking my meal outside by the burning juniper in the fireplace with more desert and mountain than I could explore in a lifetime open to view, I was invited to contemplate a far larger world, one which extends into a past and into a future without any limits known to human kind. By taking off my shoes and digging my toes into the sand I made contact with that larger world - an exhilarating feeling which leads to equanimity. Certainly I was still by myself, so to speak - there were no other people around and there still are none - but in the midst of such a grand tableau it was impossible to give full and serious consideration to Albuquerque. All that is human melted with the sky and faded out beyond the mountains and I felt, as I feel - is it a paradox? - that a man can never find or need better companionship than that of himself.”

EarthSolitudeDesertOutside
Book:Desert Solitaire
Create image

“The fire. The odor of burning juniper is the sweetest fragrance on the face of the earth, in my honest judgment; I doubt if all the smoking censers of Dante's paradise could equal it. One breath of juniper smoke, like the perfume of sagebrush after rain, evokes in magical catalysis, like certain music, the space and light and clarity and piercing strangeness of the American West. Long may it burn.”

IfsMayLongLightEarthFacesCertainSpaceDoubtFireHonestEqualJudgmentRainBreathsWestClarityBurningSmokeParadiseSmokingPerfumeFragranceSweetestEvokeStrangenessOdorPiercingsAmerican West
Book:Desert Solitaire
Create image

“We are kindred all of us, killer and victim, predator and prey, me and the sly coyote, the soaring buzzard, the elegant gopher snake, and trembling cottontail, the foul worms that feed on our entrails; all of them, all of us. Long live diversity, long live the earth!”

LongEarthWalksJourneyWalkingDiversityVictimWanderKillersHikingSoarSnakesWormsElegantPreyFoulTrekkingTremblingStrollingPredatorSaunteringKindredSlyCoyotesBuzzardsPredators And PreyGophers
Book:Desert Solitaire
Create image