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

Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.

Edward Abbey

The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.

Edward Abbey

Our 'neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative, but old as Bablyon and evil as Hell.

Edward Abbey

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

Edward Abbey

Taxation: how the sheep are shorn.

Edward Abbey

A drink a day keeps the shrink away.

Edward Abbey

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

Edward Abbey

The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already.

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

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

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

Edward Abbey

Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.

Edward Abbey

What we need now are heroes and heroines, about a million of them, one brave deed is worth a thousand books. Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.

Edward Abbey

Beyond the wall of the unreal city … there is another world waiting for you. It is the old true world of the deserts, the mountains, the forests, the islands, the shores, the open plains. Go there. Be there. Walk gently and quietly deep within it. ...

Edward Abbey

As to the charge that I am a cranky old man, I plead guilty.

Edward Abbey

Anarchism is democracy taken seriously.

Edward Abbey

To make the distinction unmistakably clear: Civilization is the vital force in human history; culture is that inert mass of institutions and organizations which accumulate around and tend to drag down the advance of life; Civilization is Giordano Bru...

Edward Abbey

As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.

Edward Abbey

The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyong reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we ...

Edward Abbey

The distrust of wit is the beginning of tyranny.

Edward Abbey

An empty man is full of himself.

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