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Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey Quotes

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Famous Edward Abbey Quotes

“I understand and sympathize with the reasonable needs of a reasonable number of people on a finite continent. All life depends upon other life. But what is happening today, in North America, is not rational use but irrational massacre. Man the Pest, multiplied to the swarming stage, is attacking the remaining forests like a plague of locusts on a field of grain.”

PeopleMenNeedsUseTodayAmericaNumbersStageFieldsDependsHappeningsForestsRationalReasonableGrainContinentsIrrationalFinitePlagueAttackingNorth AmericaMassacresPests
Author:Edward Abbey
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“Under the desert sun, in the dogmatic clarity, the fables of theology and the myths of classical philosophy dissolve like mist. The air is clean, the rock cuts cruelly into flesh; shatter the rock and the odor of flint rises to your nostrils, bitter and sharp. Whirlwinds dance across the salt flats, a pillar of dust by day; the thornbush breaks into flame at night. What does it mean? It means nothing. It is as it is and has no need for meaning. The desert lies beneath and soars beyond any possible human qualification. Therefore, sublime.”

NeedsHumansMeanDoePhilosophyLyingNightBreakSunCuttingAirRocksCleanMythFleshTheologyBitterClarityDustDesertFlamesFlatsSaltSublimeSoarMistPillarsFablesQualificationsDogmaticOdor
Author:Edward Abbey
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“A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to set foot in it. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis.”

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Book:Desert Solitaire
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“I am pleased enough with the surfaces - in fact they alone seem to me to be of much importance. Such things for example as the grasp of a child's hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of a friend or lover, the silk of a girl's thigh, the sunlight on the rock and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind - what else is there? What else do we need?”

NeedsFeelsChildrenEnoughFactsHandsSeemsFacesGirlWaterClearTreeRocksExampleWindLoversImportanceEmbraceSurfaceApplesSandPoolSunlightFlavorSilkBarkPlungeThighsGraniteClear Water
Book:The Serpents of Paradise: A Reader
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“Why can't we simply borrow what is useful to us from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, especially Zen, as we borrow from Christianity, science, American Indian traditions and world literature in general, including philosophy, and let the rest go hang? Borrow what we need but rely principally upon our own senses, common sense and daily living experience.”

WorldNeedsPhilosophyLiteratureCommonChristianityBuddhismTraditionIncludingSensesCommon SenseIndianRelyTaoismHinduismAmerican IndianDaily LivingWorld Literature
Book:Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast
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“We need wilderness because we are wild animals. Everyone needs a place where he can go to go crazy in peace. For the terror, freedom, and delirium. Because we need brutality and raw adventure, because men and women first learned to love in, under, and all around trees, because we need for every pair of feet and legs about ten leagues of naked nature, crags to leap from, mountains to measure by, deserts to finally die in when the heart fails.”

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Author:Edward Abbey
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