My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel. Edward Abbey More Quotes by Edward Abbey More Quotes From Edward Abbey Simply because humankind have the power now to meddle or 'manage' or 'exercise stewardship' in every nook and cranny of the world does not mean that we have a right to do so. Even less, the obligation. Edward Abbey doe exercise mean Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Of course, people with guns kill more people. But that's only natural. It's hard. But it's fair. Edward Abbey gun natural people I stand for what I stand on. Edward Abbey There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California. Edward Abbey crazy fun travel No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets. Edward Abbey gadgets clerks government I suppose each of us has his own fantasy of how he wants to die. I would like to go out in a blaze of glory, myself, or maybe simply disappear someday, far out in the heart of the wilderness I love, all by myself, alone with the Universe and whatever God may happen to be looking on. Disappear - and never return. That's my fantasy. Edward Abbey want heart may I would never betray a friend to serve a cause. Never reject a friend to help an institution. Great nations may fall in ruin before I would sell a friend to save them. Edward Abbey betrayal friendship fall Government should be weak, amateurish and ridiculous. At present, it fulfills only a third of the role. Edward Abbey liberty roles government Wilderness and motors are incompatible and the former can best be experienced, understood and enjoyed when the machines are left behind where they belong -- on the superhighways and in the parking lots, on the reservoirs and in the marinas. Edward Abbey wilderness left-behind machines 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 sloth suffering action 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. Edward Abbey light fire rain Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers. Edward Abbey force focus book An economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human. Edward Abbey growth political philosophy Not all questions can be answered. Edward Abbey No man is wise enough to be another man's master. Each man's as good as the next -- if not a damn sight better. Edward Abbey wise sight men Truth is merely common sense, say the naive realist. Really? Then where, Edward Abbey eye air somewhere-else At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, "thus far and no further." If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, "If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour. Edward Abbey regret pride home Saving the world was merely a hobby. My *vocation* has been that of Edward Abbey hobbies desert water Let us praise the noble turkey vulture: No one envies him; he harms nobody; and he contemplates our little world from a most serene and noble height. Edward Abbey turkeys envy littles In the Soviet Union, government controls industry. In the United States, industry controls government. That is the principal structural difference between the two great oligarchies of our time. Edward Abbey differences government two
