Quotes by Edward Abbey

About Edward Abbey:

Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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.

Edward Abbey

A crowded society is a restrictive society; an overcrowded society becomes an authoritarian, repressive and murderous society.

Edward Abbey

The novel should tell the truth, as I see the truth, or as the novelist persuades me to see it. And one more demand: I expect the novelist to aspire to improve the world. ... As a novelist, I want to be more than one more dog barking at the other dog...

Edward Abbey

And if the computer gives you any back talk, pour some well-sugared office coffee into its evil little silicon brain.

Edward Abbey

I hate and fear violence myself, have always avoided barroom brawls, and tho' I'm a bit of a gun-nut, and a member of the NRA, I never shoot at anything but beer cans and mule deer. (In season.) And seldom hit either, except by accident.

Edward Abbey

Walking is the only form of transportation in which a man proceeds erect - like a man - on his own legs, under his own power. There is immense satisfaction in that.

Edward Abbey

There is this to be said for walking: it is the one method of human locomotion by which a man or woman proceeds erect, upright, proud and independent, not squatting on the haunches like a frog. Little boys love machines. Grown-up mean and women like ...

Edward Abbey

Should a writer have a social purpose? Any honest writer is bound to become a critic of the society he lives in, and sometimes, like Mark Twain or Kurt Vonnegut or Leo Tolstoy or Francois Rabelais, a very harsh critic indeed. The others are sycophant...

Edward Abbey

How become a writer? Naturally.

Edward Abbey

As for writing, that's a cruel hard business. Unless you're very lucky it'll break your heart.

Edward Abbey

What is the essence of the art of writing? Part One: Have something to say. Part Two: Say it well.

Edward Abbey

Certainly, I want to capture the reader's attention from the beginning and hold it until the end: that is half the purpose of my art. The other half must be to tell my story in the most honest way that I can.

Edward Abbey

Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart.

Edward Abbey

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

Edward Abbey

Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.

Edward Abbey

My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation's history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green ...

Edward Abbey

There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California.

Edward Abbey

Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.

Edward Abbey

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

Edward Abbey

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

Edward Abbey

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

Edward Abbey

Author Bio

  • NameEdward Abbey
  • DescriptionAmerican author and essayist
  • AliasesEdward Paul Abbey
  • BornJanuary 29, 1927
  • DiedMarch 14, 1989
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist; Philosopher; Essayist