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 Walking takes longer... than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. Edward Abbey hiking native-american life Readers, not critics, are the people who determine a book's eventual fate. Edward Abbey fate book people Why must love always be accompanied--sooner or later--by sorrow and pain? Why not? Because pure bliss is for pure idiots. Edward Abbey why-not pain sorrow The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an "equalizer." Edward Abbey police democracy military One thing more dangerous than getting between a grizzly sow and her cub is getting between a businessman and a dollar bill. Edward Abbey cubs dollar-bills dollars Doctrines like Christianity or Islam or Marxism require unanimity of belief. One dissenter casts doubt on the creed of millions. Edward Abbey islam atheist doubt Who needs astrology? The wise man gets by on fortune cookies. Edward Abbey astrology wise men It's a fool's life, a rogue's life, and a good life if you keep laughing all the way to the grave. Edward Abbey good-life laughing way Men have never loved one another much, for reasons we can readily Edward Abbey lovable animal men By the age of forty, a man is responsible for his face. And his fate. Edward Abbey fate age men 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 molotov-cocktail gun hands We are preoccupied with time. If we could learn to love space as deeply as we are now obsessed with time, we might discover a new meaning in the phrase to live like men. Edward Abbey phrases space men Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second. Edward Abbey second-chance coffee running Except for the scale of the operation, there was nothing unusual about Hitler's massacre of the Jews. Genocide's an old tradition, as human as mother love or cherry pie. Edward Abbey pie tradition mother The best thing about graduating from the university was that I finally had time to sit on a log and read a good book. Edward Abbey best-things graduates book The purpose and function of government is not to preside over change but to prevent change. By political methods when unavoidable, by violence when convenient. Edward Abbey political government purpose I despise my own nation most. Because I know it best. Because I still love it, suffering from Hope. For me, that's patrotism. Edward Abbey despise stills suffering Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. Edward Abbey atheist imagination dream Nothing could be more reckless than to base one's moral philosophy on the latest pronouncements of science. Edward Abbey reckless moral philosophy War: First day in the U.S. Army, the government placed a Bible in my left hand, a bayonet in the other. Edward Abbey army government war
